Partnerships farmers can rely on

Cargill supports access to technical and agronomic resources that farmers need to help them improve yield and ensure financial stability. Together with our supply chain partners, we provide access to training on soil health adoption, instruction on data collection and benchmarking and market insight guidance.

While pockets of acres with extensive use of soil health practices exist in the US, there is a need to more rapidly scale soil health practices so that nature and people – including farmers – can reap the benefits. Because we work so closely with farmers, we understand the enormous financial pressures you face to sustain your livelihoods – and feed the world and we want to work with you to manage the risks you face when adopting new practices.

Working with the Practical Farmers of Iowa (PFI), Cargill has launched two pilot programs focused on boosting adoption of cover crops in Nebraska and in major growing regions tributary to the Mississippi, Illinois and Ohio river waterways.

PFI is a non-profit founded in 1985 by 50 farmers looking to educate each other on cost control during the farm crisis. Using a peer-to-peer model, PFI brings farmers together through field days, farminars (webinars for farmers), conferences and a digital newsletter.

“We still focus on ways to control costs to not only maintain profitable farms but to build greater resiliency during the current climate “weirding” that is making it difficult to plant and harvest all crops on time,” says Sarah Carlson, Strategic Initiatives Director at PFI.

Through the partnership, PFI consults with farmers at no cost and also helps connect them to additional resources such as field days and webinars. To date, 201 farmers are enrolled in the programs, covering more than 26,000 acres.

View this video to learn more about our work with PFI

Further, Cargill is working with the Iowa Soybean Association to help row-crop farmers implement soil health practices through the Soil and Water Outcomes Fund. Farmers who transition to on-farm conservation practices that yield positive environmental outcomes like carbon sequestration and water quality improvement are incentivized on a per-acre basis. The  fund provides new market opportunities and revenue streams for farmers by selling these environmental outcomes to public and private beneficiaries. 

Learn more about the SWOF

By scaling and supporting soil health practices, we will create a practical path for farmers to continue providing the food we all depend on.