ADM and Farmers Business Network form JV to boost regenerative agriculture and sustainable grain supplies

20 Aug 2024 --- ADM and Farmers Business Network have launched a Joint Venture (JV) to accelerate the adoption of regenerative and sustainable agricultural practices, which will see the expansion of Gradable, a technology platform to support farmers and buyers in meeting rising demand for sustainable farm products. 

A new company will be formed as a result of the JV.

Gradable is a North American grain procurement platform withmore than 20,000 farmer users across 12 million acres. It has scored over 200 million bushels of corn and soybeans, analyzed 48 million acre-years of agronomic events, and facilitated over US$30 million in financial incentives for sustainable practices each year. 

The new 50-50 JV will enable Gradable, whose partners include ADM, Poet and Attebury Grain, to expand and reach new partners and customers at every stage of the grain supply chain, from growers to grain buyers.

The newly-appointed CEO of Gradable, Steele Lorenz, speaks to Food Ingredients First about why adopting regenerative agricultural practices is crucial in shaping the future of the F&B industry, as well as how Gradable’s expansion helps stakeholders have more robust, sustainable practices.

“Land and sustainable stewardship are critical to feeding the growing global population in the years and decades ahead. Regenerative agriculture plays an important role in this stewardship, protecting and improving soil health, biodiversity, climate and water resources, which supports the growing of staple ingredients like grains,” he tells us.

The Gradable platform connects farmers, grain buyers and food manufacturers through one straightforward system.“The Gradable platform was created to assist farmers, grain buyers and food manufacturers, connecting their experiences through one straightforward system. Expanding Gradable through this new joint venture enables further robust and clear tracking of sustainable and regenerative agriculture practices and calculation of corresponding environmental outcomes, supporting farmers’ business development through financial incentives while also providing grain buyers with farm-level data to validate sustainability claims.”

“The joint venture puts in place a dedicated leadership team and staff solely focused on developing best-in-class sustainable solutions, serving downstream customers, farmers and the food industry overall.”

Stewards of the land

Steele continues that consumer sentiment and regulatory changes are powering demand for sustainably produced products. As stewards of the land, farmers also see the advantages of utilizing these practices for the longevity of their business.

“Each of these factors is driving growth, from acres enrolled in ADM’s regenerative agriculture program to more grain buyers and downstream customers demanding traceability, sustainability and environmental attributes. Gradable already makes it easy to connect each part of the value chain with crucial information and technical support.”

“Creating a new company through this joint venture ensures a larger reach of the platform, helping scale to meet demand for sustainable and regenerative agriculture practices.”

Gradable will expand across ADM’s US and Canadian facilities. It will also increase the number of commercial partners and countries served.

Enhancing insights and incentives

The platform was initially developed to provide a modern digital infrastructure to strengthen the relationship between grain buyers and farmers as the need for better transparency began to emerge some years ago. It also intended to boost secure grain transaction production agriculture. 

The grain procurement platform has scored over 200 million bushels of corn and soybeans and analyzed 48 million acre-years of agronomic events each year.Farmer and buyer experiences are connected into a single, secure technology platform that helps them “to seamlessly collect and calculate verifiable production data, including carbon scores, empowering them to monetize these downstream benefits in the market.”

“The benefits of a world-class technology platform for measurement, monitoring, reporting and verification (MMRV) span the value chain and are critical to the continued expansion of regenerative agriculture,” Steele adds.

“It always starts with the farmers, who are already incredibly busy. For them, Gradable offers a fast and simple sign-up process, typically taking an hour or less for farmers, who are “incredibly busy.” It ensures functionality and contains everything a farmer needs to securely enter data, verify sustainable practices and report on outcomes.

“For grain buyers and consumer-facing brands, Gradable gives them the confidence that the crops they buy meet their sustainability claims and needs.”

“Regenerative agriculture cannot succeed without MMRV technology and we’re proud to work to expand our leading platform to new and existing stakeholders that stand to benefit from these sustainable practices,” he concludes.

By Gaynor Selby