ESMC’s Eco-Harvest Pilot Program Successful in Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Results from three-year pilot projects supported by Nutrien Ag Solutions and Syngenta showcase opportunities to scale agricultural carbon programs.

Falls Church, VA, January 3, 2024 – Midwestern corn and soybean growers earned more than $140,000 in 2023 for reduced greenhouse gas emissions and increased soil carbon through implementing regenerative agriculture practices. These producers received both payments and technical assistance from Nutrien Ag Solutions as part of their participation in Eco-Harvest pilot projects.

The Ecosystem Services Market Consortium (ESMC) Eco-Harvest’s scope 3 agricultural supply chain program rewards farmers and ranchers for beneficial environmental outcomes from regenerative agriculture. Participating farmers in these agricultural carbon projects implemented conservation practices such as nutrient management, reduced tillage, and cover crops on enrolled fields. Data collected from the project’s outcomes was used to develop verified carbon outcomes for measured soil carbon storage and reduced greenhouse gas emissions.

Launched in 2021, these smaller scale projects were developed to test program design, streamline data collection, enhance agronomic advice, and reliably measure, quantify, and verify environmental outcomes – all while compensating farmers. With 2023 payments complete, and with 3rd party verified outcomes from SustainCERT, these results provide a roadmap to scale future agricultural carbon projects.

Nutrien Ag Solutions served multiple roles as a project sponsor, enrollment specialist, and as a crop advisor which provided an opportunity to leverage the company’s unique end-to-end capabilities and their strong connection with farmers.

These projects were implemented on more than 9,000 acres throughout the Midwest including on 7,848 corn, soy, and alfalfa acres (on 11 farms) in Iowa and Missouri as well as on 1,550 acres (on 10 farms) mainly growing soy in Indiana and Western Ohio. Nutrien partnered with Syngenta, a leading sustainable agricultural innovation and technology company, to co-sponsor the Iowa project and to enroll growers in the program and share programmatic costs for project implementation. Both Nutrien and Syngenta are Founding Circle members of ESMC.

“Feeding our growing world is extremely important, but in order to do so we need to find ways to sustainably produce crops so that we can not only feed the people of the world, but care for the planet that provides for them,” said Dr. Sally Flis, Director, Sustainability Program Design & Outcome Management for Nutrien Ag Solutions. “It is vital to increase the adoption of sustainable ag practices in order to successfully feed the future while caring for the Earth for generations to come. Nutrien Ag Solutions is proud to team up with ESMC to provide support and payment to growers implementing sustainability practices on their operations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

Debbie Reed, ESMC Executive Director, noted, “ESMC’s ongoing partnership with Nutrien and Syngenta allowed us to successfully generate verified outcomes through a series of pilot projects and to provide payments and on-the-ground technical support to farmers implementing practice changes. By leveraging our collective investments and learnings from projects such as these, we can further scale opportunities for agriculture to make a meaningful impact on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. We greatly appreciate our partners in this project and their dedication to long term success.”

“Syngenta is committed to ensuring growers have the tools and know-how to meet the world’s growing demands for food, feed, fiber and fuel while safeguarding the environment for future generations,” said Dr. Steven Wall, Sustainability Development Manager for Syngenta. “The Iowa project allowed us to leverage Syngenta’s and Nutrien’s complementary portfolios and agronomic solutions to encourage sustainable practices and innovation in agriculture.”

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Ecosystem Services Market Consortium (ESMC) is a non-profit public-private partnership that compensates farmers and ranchers who improve the environment through their agricultural practices. Our voluntary market program, Eco-Harvest, is an accredited end-to-end digitized solution to decarbonize agriculture that helps corporates meet their natural resource needs through standards- based, reportable outcomes. The program incentivizes, quantifies, and verifies (through independent third-party experts) carbon, greenhouse gas, and water outcomes annually, paying farmers and ranchers from the sale of these Scope 3 outcomes to corporates.
www.ecosystemservicesmarket.org

Nutrien Ag Solutions is the retail division of Nutrien Ltd., the world’s largest provider of crop inputs and services, playing a critical role in helping growers increase food production in a sustainable manner. We produce and distribute 27 million tonnes of potash, nitrogen and phosphate products world-wide. With this capability and our leading agriculture retail network, we are well positioned to supply the needs of our customers. We operate with a long-term view and are committed to working with our stakeholders as we address our economic, environmental and social priorities. The scale and diversity of our integrated portfolio provides a stable earnings base, multiple avenues for growth and the opportunity to return capital to shareholders.

Nutrien’s carbon program is part of a broader sustainability offering designed to benefit growers, governments, and a cross-section of industries while helping the planet and supporting sustainable solution for feeding a growing global population. It is expected to lead to longer-term environmental, social and governance (ESG) returns for Nutrien and its partners. Additional information on Nutrien’s sustainability commitments is available at www.nutrien.com/sustainability/strategy.

About Syngenta

Syngenta Crop Protection and Syngenta Seeds are part of Syngenta Group, one of the world’s leading agriculture companies. Our ambition is to help safely feed the world while taking care of the planet. We aim to improve the sustainability, quality and safety of agriculture with world-class science and innovative crop solutions. Our technologies enable millions of farmers around the world to make better use of limited agricultural resources.

The content of this release is for information purposes only. This release is not, and should not be construed as, an offer to sell or issue or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities or other property interests.

To learn more, visit www.syngenta-us.com and  Follow us on X, formally known as Twitter at www.twitter.com/Syngenta and www.twitter.com/SyngentaUS and on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/syngenta.