Truterra, a Land O’ Lakes subsidiary focused on sustainability, announced on Monday details about the second iteration of its carbon program, which will start in 2022.
The company launched its first carbon program in February and has since distributed more than $4 million in cash payments to farmers for sequestering over 200,000 metric tons of carbon, according to a release. Payments averaged about $20,000; the biggest checks topped $100,000.
"We have seen strong interest from farmers,” said Truterra President Jason Weller in the release. “They see the Truterra carbon program as not only a new revenue stream for their operations, but also an incentive to continue innovating and adopting new practices which help mitigate the damaging and costly impacts of a changing climate on both their operations and our nation’s food supply.”
In addition to continuing its carbon program that pays farmers $20 per ton of carbon sequestered for recently adopted soil health management practices, the 2022 version of the program will also offer a second approach designed as an “on-ramp” for farmers who are just beginning to adapt their practices.
This approach will distribute one-time payments of up to $2 per acre to farmers for enrolling in the carbon market access program, as well as provide producers with additional support services to help with the transition.
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“It's going to be a market access program where we're working with growers to, one, help them find the financial assistance and support that they need [and] two, we're trying to make sure that they have the right conservation agronomy support,” Anthony Robertson, a supply chain manager at Truterra, told Agri-Pulse at the Agricultural Retailers Association conference in San Antonio, Texas, last week.
According to the release, farmers who take the second approach will “maintain ownership and options with their carbon rights in current and future years and are not required to make a long-term commitment to maintain the practice changes if they are not the right fit for their operations.” However, it could make farmers eligible for carbon sequestration purchase offers from Truterra in 2023 or later years.
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