TruTerra’s soil health program is about more than carbon

On Jan. 24, Truterra LLC, the sustainability business of Land O’Lakes, Inc., one of America’s largest farmer-owned cooperatives, announced the launch of Truterra sustainability services, “a comprehensive suite of agronomic and financial resources designed to meet farmers where they are at every stage of their sustainability journey.”

For the first time, TruTerra’s carbon program is being offered as part of its sustainability services, combining the soil health assessment with its carbon program and a market-access on-ramp. Truterra’s sustainability services are rooted in the Land O’Lakes cooperative network, which touches about 50% of all U.S. harvested acres. TruTerra works through its agricultural retailer network of trusted advisors to provide farmers better agronomic insights to continuously improve their operations.

Truterra’s 2022 carbon program is expected to pay farmers more than $4.5 million total in cash payments for nearly 237,000 tons of carbon stored in soils. The program delivered 220 participating farmers an average payment per participating farmer of $24,842. Full results for the 2022 program will be released in the coming months once all payments have been finalized.

“The goal of offering the two programs together is to continue helping farmers generate and sell carbon credits, while still providing support and resources for farmers at every stage of their sustainability journey, whether that’s planning, making or maintaining a regenerative practice change,” said TruTerra President Tom Ryan. Ryan is a farmer himself, as are two-thirds of TruTerra employees. “I’m working through the same challenges on my farm as any other farmer,” he told High Plains Journal.

The TruTerra program has three pillars that make it unique, Ryan said:

• It provides farmers an opportunity to be rewarded for their stewardship through the 2023 carbon program, and is designed to open up new revenue streams to support them in maintaining regenerative practices;

• It includes an on-ramp to market access for eligible farmers who are considering adopting new sustainable and regenerative practices on their fields; and

• It addresses a key challenge farmers face–the need to better measure their soil health–by providing access to the soil health assessment tool, developed in partnership with the Soil Health Institute and being offered in key states for this first time.

Truterra sustainability services works with farmers to make and maintain sustainability practice changes, including:

• Making a plan: The Truterra soil health assessment and plan sets quantifiable soil health baselines and provides custom recommendations to improve overall soil health and resiliency. The soil health assessment brings locally relevant context to soil health measures for farmers to understand more about their soil health status, lay the groundwork for improvement and help create a roadmap toward improved soil health.

• Creating a pathway to change: Truterra’s market access program is an “on-ramp” for eligible farmers considering adopting new regenerative practices on their fields. Farmers can potentially receive $2 an acre to begin building the baseline data required to participate in future carbon program opportunities. In addition, farmers have the opportunity to participate in the WinField United Advanced Acre Rx prescription plan–a component of which provides a warranty to offset part of the risk of this practice change implementation.

• Being rewarded for transition: For fields that have made eligible practice changes within the last four years, qualified farmers can potentially earn between $15 to $30 per ton of new carbon stored through Truterra’s 2023 carbon program, which is open for enrollment through Feb. 28. Truterra offers farmers earning potential by paying based on results–carbon stored–rather than a set payment per acre.

After a successful 2022 pilot across several states including Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri, Truterra is expanding the soil health assessment to Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Wisconsin. “The soil health assessment offering builds on the robust conservation agronomy support already being delivered through Truterra and WinField United networks of trusted local ag retail advisors and its farmer support team,” according to a release by TruTerra.

Truterra is working to develop additional opportunities for farmers to be rewarded for their stewardship, including leveraging the U.S. Department of Agriculture-awarded Climate Scaling Mechanisms for Agriculture’s Regenerative Transformation funding to scale production and demand for climate-smart corn, soybean, wheat, cotton and milk production.

“A journey to sustainability is never a straight line,” Ryan said. “Working through the farmer cooperative system enables us to take a comprehensive view and deploy targeted support to directly address what farmers and retailers need to best manage risk and maximize natural resources to generate a potential return on investment.”

This year’s launch is only the beginning, Ryan said. “We expect to scale these programs significantly over the next three or four years, as we see a higher level of grower engagement. We want to focus at least as much on Scope 3 carbon emissions reduction as on capture.”

With Truterra’s work in supporting farmers transition to sustainable practices, WinField United’s scientific approach to crop management and the expertise of local ag retailers, the Land O’Lakes cooperative system is working to help mitigate the risk associated with converting to more climate-smart practices.

Interested growers can learn more at Truterraag.com/enroll, or contact their local Truterra retail partner.

David Murray can be reached at [email protected].