Following successful enrollment of more than a million acres in 2022, ADM is hoping to double acreage into the company’s regenerative ag program in 2023, according to Paul Scheetz, director of ADM’s Climate Smart Ag Origination program.
ADM committed $20 million in 2022 over a four-year period to underwrite incentives to producers implementing cover crops, nutrient management, no-till and practices that reduce in carbon emissions.
While ADM has been developing the program for 10 years, Scheetz said the company scaled-up its efforts last year, reaching producers in 15 states.
That due diligence has paid off in a realistic approach and program that works for producers.
“We didn't want to stand up a program that dictated practices or incentivize practices that weren't going to work at the farm level,” Scheetz said. “We really wanted to meet the farmer where they were.”
Key lessons learned?
No long-term contracts. No onerous data collecting and reporting requirements. Most importantly, no “additionality requirements” that penalize producers already using conservation practices, including no-till and cover crops.
“Only 6.5% of total acres in the U.S. are represented by cover crops, for example. So, we knew that if we wanted to get that growth to ultimately happen, we had to partner with the early adopters on cover crops and incentivize those early adopters,” Scheetz said.
Those early adopters have also proven effective, according to Scheetz, in convincing their farmer-peers to implement climate-smart practices, such as no-till, which has grown from less than 2 million acres in 1977 to 102 million acres in 2017, according to NASS data.
“When farmers are talking to farmers, that's the most effective way,” Scheetz said. “So specifically with cover crops, we wanted to incentivize the early adopters as well.”
Recognizing there’s a learning curve for producers, ADM made a conscious decision to keep contracts to one-year terms. That education also applied to ADM in trying to understand from a farmer's perspective, “What we're doing, and why it matters to us,” Scheetz said.
“We know that if it's going to be brand new, we can't ask for five-year or 10-year contracts. Let's go annually, and let's prove ourselves that it's an easy process, that they're going to get payment on time, and then let's build that relationship for a long term.”
According to Scheetz, the program’s simplicity and proof-of-concept delivery to producers has turned those annual contracts into longer-term relationships.
“The one thing we found in the last 10 years of standing up these programs is we tend to get five-year partnerships with farmers without signing five-year partnerships because we prove ourselves every single year on being able to perform,” he said.
In addition to securing direct funding to farmers, ADM’s program also includes technical assistance providers to ensure producer success when they are adopting climate-smart practices.
“We start off with a consultation from an ADM person with farmers on what the process looks like. After they agree to move forward with the overall agreement, then we partner with Farmers Business Network to get their data to where we can measure it, record it and verify it,” Scheetz said.
ADM and FBN signed an agreement last July to expand the availability of FBN’s digital farm business management platform, Gradable, to ADM’s network of 55,000 farmers across North America.
FBN’s technology platform provides a single, secure digital platform to lay the groundwork for increased farmer participation in new sustainability markets, collecting and calculating verifiable production data – including carbon scores – that allow producers to monetize downstream benefits in the market.
Initial enrollment survey information is only seen by ADM, FBN, and technical assistance partners. Completed field-level information is never shared outside of ADM and FBN for individual farms, and program reporting is only shared in aggregate and never identifies specific producer information.
For more information, Scheetz recommends producers visit ADM’s Regenerative Program. Producers can also fill out a short online form to request additional information and be added to a 2023 waiting list.
An overview of ADM’s Regenerative approach
1.ADM and its partners (local conservation organizations) recruit and engage producers on direct incentive opportunities.
2.A 30-minute consultation from technical assistance partners or ADM Climate-Smart Origination Managers helps guide producers on what is required for a successful execution and the potential rewards. The partners also gather basic farm information in an enrollment survey. If all looks good, producers sign an agreement to enroll in the program.
Source: michiganfarmnews.com
Photo Credit: ADM
Categories: Michigan, Crops, Energy, General, Weather