Sourcing Incentives

Those with the potential to positively influence farmer decision-making need an incentive to source information to open up new markets.

Developing systems for ‘data capture’ is a major focus these days, in response to the failure of voluntary carbon markets (VCM). But before all the positive outcomes of regenerative agriculture can be sold, commodity agriculture needs to stop pushing the over-application of crop inputs.

The culture of chasing bigger yields, bigger farms, bigger equipment, etc. is not shared by farmers in the burgeoning regenerative movement. Heavy crop input use is only still a goal in the interface between commodity farmers and the sales agronomists and grain buyers they rely on.

Regenerative grain farmers are repelled by that reliance, and turn to new advisors: peer networks of like-minded folks drawn to biodiversity, soil health, biologicals, grazing, etc. Low-emissions grain still has a hard time being marketed as such, but the volumes available are commercially-viable to handle and transport to growing markets.

If front-line grain buyers had the language and an incentive, the financial capital from high-level corporate commitments could flow through to farmers for creating natural capital. Instead, compensation is based on volumes, keeping them focused on farms that are unappealing to growing markets.

It’s not even worth talking about the role of sales agronomists in regenerative agriculture practice adoption. They cannot be reprogrammed to promote low-input farming systems, nor is there any financial benefit to their employers for them to do so.

As Boards of Directors become newly accountable to material environmental and social implications, management is directed to conduct a complete risk analysis of company operations. Insufficient oversight and scrutiny on the ground level present direct legal, financial, regulatory and reputational risks to corporations that can harm shareholder interests.

Managing Risks

So, what if you manage a team of grain buyers responsible for contracting and purchasing from primary producers, and some of those are regenerative farmers? Here are some tips for creating incentives and new ESG metrics for the company’s downstream customers.