Tate & Lyle is the first corn wet-milling ingredient supplier to launch a program of this kind, which will enable US Midwest corn farmers to more effectively target and measure the impact of their efforts to safeguard the planet using technology from SUSTAIN.
“Corn is our main raw material and we are proud to have the opportunity to make a positive impact on the lives of US farmers by supporting sustainable agriculture for the equivalent of the entire 1.5 million acres of corn we buy globally each year,” said Nick Hampton, CEO of Tate & Lyle.
“Through this unique program, we are demonstrating our purpose of Improving Lives for Generations, helping to protect farmer livelihoods and supporting their work to protect natural resources by encouraging sustainable agriculture best practices."
Stewardship starts at the farm gate
Minnesota-based Land O’Lakes is one of America’s largest cooperatives, ranking 212 on the Fortune 500 and clocking up $15b in sales last year.
The collaboration leverages SUSTAIN’s interactive on-farm digital platform called Truterra Insights Engine, which helps farmers scale their environmental stewardship efforts and assess return-on-investment in real time, acre-by-acre. Participating farmers will be able to measure improvements in greenhouse gas emission reductions, nitrogen efficiency, water and wind erosion, and soil quality.
In turn, the technology will give Tate & Lyle greater visibility of its environmental footprint beyond the factory gates, enabling it to make informed decisions about its supply chain environmental strategies.
“As a farmer-owned cooperative, Land O’Lakes knows stewardship starts at the farm gate, with the farmer, and we are excited to launch this landmark effort alongside Tate & Lyle leveraging ag tech to support on-farm sustainability,” said Beth Ford, president and CEO of the cooperative.
“The Truterra Insights Engine is changing the game for sustainability led by farmers and their ag retailers.
“It’s equipping them with new solutions, customized to every acre to help protect the air, soil and water, maintain a focus on the health of their business, and benchmark their progress in a way that’s meaningful from farmer to fork.”
The new initiative builds on a pilot project launched in November 2018 by the two companies, benchmarking stewardship efforts on 300,000 acres of corn farms in Illinois and Indiana.