ADM and its partners—Keurig Dr Pepper, PepsiCo, and Practical Farmers of Iowa—have won the Field to Market: Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture 2022 Collaboration of the Year Award for their regenerative agriculture project supporting Nebraska farmers. The award, one of Field to Market’s Sustainability Leadership Awards, recognizes an outstanding collaboration and cross-sector partnership in advancing continuous improvement in sustainable agriculture at the field and landscape level. 

The project, “Supporting Nebraska Farmers to Boost Resiliency Via Cover Cropping,” provides farmers with technical assistance, peer support networks, and cost-share payments for implementing cover crops. Since the start of the project in 2021, farmers participating in the project have planted more than the partnership’s goal of 15,000 acres of cover crops. This initiative not only supports the agricultural communities financially, but also the overall health of the direct and surrounding ecosystems; cover crops are used to prevent erosion, improve soil and water quality, maintain high nutrient levels in soil, eliminate weeds, and serve as livestock nourishment. 

“ADM unites the entire supply chain. Through major regenerative agriculture partnerships and on-the-ground engagement with growers and suppliers, ADM is committed to building a more sustainable food system,” said Alison Taylor, chief sustainability officer at ADM. “ADM is also committed to reducing our Scope 3 emissions as part of a holistic approach to addressing climate challenges. Because the majority of our Scope 3 emissions come from the farming that happens upstream—and from the ingredient processing that occurs by our customers downstream—it is important to collaborate with our growers and customers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.” 

In total, ADM has initiated 18 Field to Market projects that span across 13 U.S. states and 2 Canadian provinces, focused on corn, soy, and wheat production. These states and provinces include Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Manitoba, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Saskatchewan, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington. These projects are part of ADM’s broader sustainable agriculture initiatives, which have enrolled over 750,000 total acres of land in the U.S. in the transition to regenerative agriculture practices and are creating long-term market opportunities for farmers.