The agriculture industry continues to offer incentives to push farmers toward more sustainable agriculture practices. A new collaboration between Bayer and Perdue AgriBusiness, the international agricultural products and services business of Perdue Farms, offers another opportunity for farmers to receive compensation for adopting regenerative practices and tracking their carbon footprint. 

The collaboration is the first of its kind under Bayer’s new ForGround platform. ForGround is a digital marketplace that helps farms of all sizes more easily make the transition to regenerative farming practices. In addition, it creates a blueprint for businesses to assess their carbon footprint and reduce GHG emissions. 

Farmer incentives

Farmers who supply grain to Perdue may be compensated for tracking their carbon footprint. Producers can also gain access to all ForGround benefits including science-based agronomic support, a free subscription to Climate FieldView Plus, and cost savings such as equipment rebates, agronomic tools, and service discounts to reduce transition cost barriers

The program is focused on enrolling farmers who supply Perdue with corn or soybeans. The goal is to first understand their carbon footprint and then identify the best path to lower the greenhouse gas intensity of the grains through the adoption of regenerative farming practices – in turn, improving the sustainability of the foods produced with those grains.

Perdue grain farmers may be eligible for additional incentives tied to adopting regenerative farming practices, with tailored support to meet each farmer wherever they are on their own regenerative ag journey.

Dustin Madigan, director of operations at Engel Family Farms in central Virginia, says their farm has played with many carbon opportunities in the past, but none were a great fit for their operation – until they enrolled in this program. Engel Family Farms already works closely with Bayer and Perdue and Climate FieldView is their primary data management tool, so the process of onboarding was "quite comfortable."

"We've had a commitment to reducing our environmental footprint, like air and water quality, for a long time now," Madigan says. "The formal framework [of this program] is going to make us more accountable and help us keep better records to make sure we're moving in the right direction from year to year." 

“By taking concrete steps to decarbonize our supply chain, this collaboration with Bayer is an example of Perdue's continued commitment to environmental sustainability,” said Perry Aulie, Senior Vice President of Value-Added Products for Perdue AgriBusiness. “We’re constantly seeking additional avenues for our farmers to get credit for their hard work, and this new program offers opportunity for both incentive and impact for these important stewards of the land.”

Agriculture accounts for nearly one-quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions. This collaboration has the potential to take over one million metric tons of CO2 each year out of the atmosphere and sequester it in the ground. If achieved, this would counter-balance the greenhouse gas emissions from over one billion pounds of chicken, or the equivalent of approximately 200,000 vehicle emissions.

Enrollment will be available for Perdue grain farmers starting this fall. Visit bayerforground.com for more information about enrollment.