Spotlight Series
Partnering Across the Rotation to Advance Soil Health in Iowa
As one of Field to Market’s oldest Continuous Improvement Project, Unilever’s Iowa-based Sustainable Soy project has amassed a fair share of lessons learned when it comes to engaging farmers in adopting conservation practices. One of the most important is the untapped power of innovative collaborations.
“Unilever has worked with Iowa farmers in our Hellman’s mayonnaise sourcing region since 2012, re-launching our program in 2018 to focus on helping farmers plant cover crops by offering cost share,” explains Stefani Millie Grant, Senior Manager of Sustainability for Unilever. “When PepsiCo and Unilever discovered that we had overlapping supply chain areas and a shared interest in conservation, we were able to both benefit from the project.”
Joining forces with PepsiCo's own Iowa-based sustainable sourcing project has expanded the strategy and reach of Unilever’s efforts, bringing together a wide networking of partners, including ADM, Cargill and the Practical Farmers of Iowa (PFI), to support sustainability efforts across a farmer’s rotation.
“We all want the same thing,” shares Margaret Henry, PepsiCo’s Director of Sustainable Agriculture. “We might discuss things differently in our sustainability reports and corporate goal setting, but the project partners have common ground in wanting farmers to be able to keep farming—through all the political, economic and environmental challenges they face.”
“Helping farmers be more resilient for the long term is a vision that Unilever shares with PFI, PepsiCo and other partners on the project,” agrees Grant. “That shared vision is what makes our partnership viable.”
The collaboration seeks to catalyze systemic change across PepsiCo and Unilever’s supply chains by reducing the financial risks which farmers face in adopting soil health practices, while showcasing the joint environmental and economic benefits which practices like cover crops can offer to farmers over multiple years.
In the program, PepsiCo has provided cost share to 120 farmers for planting over 42,000 acres of cover crops, which Unilever has supported 405 farmers across more than 70,000 acres. The project partners hope their approach will promote long term practice adoption.
“We are helping farmers de-risk trying something different that over time adds value for the farmer and the entire food supply chain,” explains Henry. “Many are planting cover crops on acres above and beyond what we cost share for on a single farm.”
"This is an investment in our farmers, an investment in our supply chain and an investment in the Iowa region."
Stefani Grant
Senior Manager of Sustainability Unilever
“With a Fieldprint Analysis, we can put the results of these practices in terms of greenhouse gases or dollar signs . That’s been a key piece of moving beyond just economic sustainability to also incorporate environmental sustainability in the goals of farmers.”
Sarah Carlson
Director of Strategic Initiatives
Practical Farmers of Iowa
Project partner Practical Farmers of Iowa play a critical role in the collaboration, providing a network of local advisers who offer technical assistance and social support to help farmers implement practices like cover crops.
“The biggest thing PFI brings to the project is not just a practical approach to cover crops, but also identifying where farmers in the commodity crop supply chain are with their practices,” explains Sarah Carlson, PFI’s Director of Strategic Initiatives. “How can we meet farmers where they are today and support them along their soil health journey?”
PFI makes use of Field to Market’s Fieldprint® Platform for this support, collaborating with farmers involved in the project to analyze the environmental benefits they achieve by planting cover crops, reducing tillage, or fine-tuning the use of fertilizer or crop protectants, among other changes.
“With a Fieldprint Analysis, we can put the results of these practices in terms of greenhouse gases or dollar signs,” shares Carlson. “We can provide farmers with a much richer story to see the economics of these practices alongside environmental indicators. That’s been a key piece of moving beyond just economic sustainability to also incorporate environmental sustainability in the goals of farmers.”
While insight into sustainability data has been a key feature of the Unilever project throughout its history, project partners also remain focused on how innovative financing and support mechanisms can add value to the project for farmers.
“We want to protect these farmers and our supply chains and ensure that they’re there in the future,” emphasizes Grant, of Unilever. “This is an investment in our farmers, an investment in our supply chain and an investment in the Iowa region.”
"The core goal of the project is to understand what the farmer challenges are from a sustainability perspective, and then figure out what our companies can help bring to the table."
Margaret Henry
Director of Sustainable Agriculture
PepsiCo
