Tate & Lyle PLC (Tate & Lyle), a global provider of food, beverage and industrial ingredients and solutions, and Land O’Lakes SUSTAIN, the sustainable solutions business of one of America’s largest farmer-owned cooperatives, announced a major new initiative to help bolster sustainability on 1.5 million acres of U.S.-grown corn. Using best-in-class technology and sustainability solutions from Land O’Lakes SUSTAIN, U.S. Midwest corn farmers will be helped to more effectively target and measure the impact of efforts to protect the environment.

Tate & Lyle is the first corn wet-milling ingredient supplier to launch a sustainable agriculture program of this kind, with an acreage scope representing the corn it buys globally each year. The company aims to enable more sustainable farming practices, support its customers’ environmental initiatives and impact reporting, and ultimately increase transparency throughout the food and beverage industry. Through this commitment, Tate & Lyle is able to connect members of the value chain and key stakeholders to drive positive change.

“Corn is our main raw material and we are proud to have the opportunity to make a positive impact on the lives of U.S. 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, Tate & Lyle CEO. “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.

“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 Land O’Lakes, Inc. “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.

Under the program, participating corn farmers in the Midwest will receive customized support through their local agricultural retailer, to help drive measurable improvements in greenhouse gas emission reduction, nitrogen efficiency, water and wind erosion, and soil quality. The Truterra Insights Engine, launched last fall by Land O’Lakes SUSTAIN, will support corn farmers in the new program to make data-informed decisions about their farms, with acre-by-acre insights to drive environmental improvements and help optimize their businesses.

As part of the program, Tate & Lyle will leverage the technology to access information on the enrolled acreage and have greater visibility of improvements it is helping to drive in air and water quality and soil health, providing a more transparent value chain for its customers.

The new effort announced today builds on a pilot project launched in November 2018 by the two companies, which reached over 300,000 acres of U.S.-grown corn, benchmarking stewardship efforts on farms in Illinois and Indiana.