Click above to find out how the Forum and our partners are supporting the Call to Action commitments
Partner case study – Cargill
Cargill RegenConnect® – expanding farmer access to the growing environmental marketplace
Call to Action Commitment 1 – Developing and scaling regenerative agriculture, in conjunction with similar approaches, underpinned by common metrics driving enhanced outcomes for productive and environmentally sustainable farming.
Call to Action Commitment 3 – Contributing to the development and alignment of public funding market-based incentives for nature restoration and delivery of other eco-system services.
Cargill continues to make progress on scaling up regenerative agriculture through its Cargill RegenConnect® programme, which connects farmers to the growing environmental marketplace by paying them for improved soil health and positive environmental outcomes. In 2023, the company expanded the program in the United States from 15 to 24 states, providing farmers with payments per metric ton of carbon sequestered per acre. The program now covers more commodities, including cotton, and provides improved ease and access to enrolment via mobile devices.
The program is also available in Europe for eligible farmers in Germany, Poland, Romania, France, Hungary and Ukraine. Cargill offers market-competitive pricing based on each metric ton of carbon sequestered per hectare for primary crops in Cargill’s supply chains, including rapeseed, wheat, corn, barley and sunflower. In recognition of its innovative approach to creating a more resilient and secure food system, Cargill RegenConnect® received the prestigious 2023 Edison Award™. Learn more about the Cargill RegenConnect® here and in the company’s 2023 ESG Report.
As well as developing and scaling regenerative agriculture (CTA1), Cargill’s work on regenerative agriculture also supports CTA3 on the alignment of market-based incentives.
Call to Action Commitment 2 – Valuing and accounting for the use of natural capital, such as water, soil, air, and biodiversity, by the agri-food system.
Enabling a water positive impact in operations, supply chains and communities
Cargill’s global ambition is to enable a water-positive impact across their operations, supply chains, and communities by 2030. They define a water-positive impact as improving watershed health by addressing the shared water challenges of availability, quality, and access to safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH).
Since 2020, the company has taken a local, context-based approach to water stewardship that prioritises action where it’s needed most, based on the specific water challenges faced by the local community and the ability to drive change. Cargill’s approach goes well beyond their own operational footprint, extending to the communities where they operate as well as where they can have the greatest impact: agricultural supply chains.
Their targets were developed following a data-driven, risk-based approach, in close partnership with the World Resources Institute (WRI). They prioritise action where it is needed most, based on the specific challenges faced by Cargill’s local businesses, communities, and the surrounding region.
- Operations: Implement water stewardship practices at 72 priority facilities by 2025.
- Supply chains: Enable restoration of 600 billion litres of water and reduction of 5,000 metric tons of pollutants in water-stressed regions by 2030.
- Communities: Enable improved access to safe drinking water and sanitation, reaching 500,000 people in priority communities by 2030.
One example of their progress is, in 2021 Cargill and Global Water Challenge (GWC) launched Cargill Currents, an initiative to provide access to safe drinking water, sanitation, and enhanced water security in priority regions through programmes and solutions tailored to the local community. Through this programme, nearly 48,000 people have benefited from improved access to safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in cocoa growing communities in West Africa.
Learn more about Cargill’s approach to water here.
The work by Cargill is supporting CTA2 which is aimed at valuing and accounting for the use of natural capital, such as water, soil, air, and biodiversity, by the agri-food system.
Call to Action Commitment 4 – Sharing knowledge and pursue innovation in technology and practices that support both food and environmental security and move away from those which don’t.
Call to Action Commitment 1 – Developing and scaling regenerative agriculture, in conjunction with similar approaches, underpinned by common metrics driving enhanced outcomes for productive and environmentally sustainable farming.
Call to Action Commitment 5 – Integrating sustainability into supply chains and the global agri-food trade system, leaving no one behind.
Reach4Reduction – reducing methane emissions from beef and dairy cattle
When it comes to methane emission reduction, Cargill believes there is no one-size-fits-all solution. The best solution is uniquely tailored and built based upon each farmer’s individual operation, wherever they are in their sustainability journey. Cargill’s holistic approach to methane emission reduction, called Reach4Reduction, encompasses three critical areas of impact:
- On-farm productivity management to improve feed conversion rates
- Feed and nutrition to optimise animal performance and health; and
- Innovation and technologies that reduce methane emissions.
When it comes to innovation and technologies, in Europe, the United Kingdom and Brazil, Cargill offers SilvAirTM, a feed solution that can reduce methane emissions by up to 10%. Backed by more than 10 years of research and knowledge, including more than 30 peer-reviewed studies, SilvAirTM, when added to feed, stimulates a natural process in the rumen that creates ammonia from hydrogen, which would otherwise become methane. The additional ammonia can then be used by the animal to create protein.
There are clear benefits to this approach:
– Maintains production and performance whilst reducing enteric methane production by up to 10%.
– Replaces some dietary protein – which has potential cost advantages.
– Provides valuable soluble calcium.
– Accurate feeding rate – as it is incorporated into compound feed, which results in a consistent and measured feed intake and result on farm.
– Investment in SilvAirTM can result in a reduction of approx. 1kg CO2/cow per day – saving up to 36 tons of CO2 per year.
* based on a dairy farm with 100 cows.
Further information on Cargill’s Reach4Reduction initiative can be found here.
More details on SilvAirTM can be found here.
As well as supporting CTA4 – sharing knowledge and pursue innovation in technology and practices that support both food and environmental security and move away from those which don’t – the work Cargill is undertaking in this area also supports the commitments on regenerative agriculture (CTA1) and on integrating sustainability into supply chains (CTA5).