Bayer launches collaboration with Perdue AgriBusiness

Bayer has announced an innovative regenerative farming collaboration with Perdue AgriBusiness aimed at large-scale carbon emission reductions and creating a model for a more sustainable food value chain spanning across Perdue's entire grain network.

The collaboration – a first-of-its-kind under Bayer's new ForGround platform – leverages the strengths and scale of both organizations to create a blueprint for businesses to assess their carbon footprint and rapidly scale up their capability to reduce Scope 3 emissions. Through the collaboration, Bayer and Perdue AgriBusiness, the international agricultural products and services business of Perdue Farms, are creating additional opportunities to help support farmers on their regenerative agriculture journey, benefiting their land and helping them produce more environmentally friendly foods and ingredients for businesses and consumers.

Although farmers provide nourishment for billions of people, agriculture accounts for nearly one-quarter of all worldwide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (according to the IPCC). Acknowledging that the solution to this global problem is too large for any one company, industry, or entity to solve, Bayer and Perdue have come together as industry leaders and innovators to begin paving the way for a more sustainable agriculture future.

"This announcement represents a great milestone for our company, and ForGround, as we continue to shape the future of agriculture and drive global-scale change," commented Leo Bastos, Head of Global Commercial Ecosystems, Bayer CropScience. "The strengths of Bayer and Perdue, combined with our leading positions in agriculture, allow us to push new boundaries that can not only drive impact in our own organizations but can become scalable to others across the agricultural industry and beyond."

In August, Bayer announced ForGround, a digital marketplace that helps farms of all sizes more easily make the transition to regenerative farming practices and supports businesses in the agrifood value chain lower their Scope 3 GHG emissions. A leader in premium protein and agriculture, Perdue Farms is a vertically integrated business spanning the value chain and connects its farmers and the outcome of their sustainable practices directly to consumers interested in knowing how their food is produced.

Through this ForGround collaboration, Bayer and Perdue demonstrate how companies can create a mutually beneficial model that supports and incentivizes farmers interested in sustainable practices while reducing the companies' own carbon footprints.

Farmers who supply grain to Perdue may be compensated for tracking their carbon footprint and gain access to all ForGround benefits including science-based agronomic support, a free subscription to Climate FieldView Plus2, and cost savings such as equipment rebates, agronomic tools, and service discounts.

In addition, through ForGround, Perdue grain farmers may be eligible for additional incentives tied to adopting regenerative farming practices, with tailored support to meet each farmer wherever they are on their own regenerative agriculture journey.

The emission reductions achieved through the regenerative farming practices adopted by Perdue grain farmers improve the sustainability of the value-added foods and ingredients that are used to produce Perdue's portfolio of products.

The program is focused on enrolling farmers who supply Perdue with corn or soybeans. The goal is to first understand their carbon footprint and then identify the best path to lower the greenhouse gas intensity of the grains the farmers produce through the adoption of regenerative farming practices – in turn, improving the sustainability of the ingredients and foods produced with those grains.

Based on the broad scale of Perdue's commodity sourcing network, the collaboration has the potential to take over one million metric tons of CO2e a year out of the atmosphere and sequester it in the ground. If achieved, this would counter-balance the greenhouse gas emissions from over one billion pounds of chicken4, or the equivalent of approximately 200,000 vehicle emissions.

"By taking concrete steps to decarbonize our supply chain, this collaboration with Bayer is an example of Perdue's continued commitment to environmental sustainability," said Perry Aulie, Senior Vice President of Value-Added Products for Perdue AgriBusiness. "We're constantly seeking additional avenues for our farmers to get credit for their hard work, and this new program offers opportunity for both incentive and impact for these important stewards of the land."

As a fourth-generation, family-owned, US food and agribusiness company, Perdue has committed to aggressive environmental sustainability goals, including reducing greenhouse gas intensity by 30%6 within its own operations (Scope 1). ForGround provides a platform for Perdue to go even further, measuring, tracking, and incentivizing farmers to adopt more sustainable practices to decarbonize Perdue's up-stream value chain (Scope 3).

"This collaboration is the first example of our ability to create a program within our ForGround platform to meet the needs of our business customers," concluded Bastos. "Through our size and scale, Bayer is uniquely positioned to help companies achieve their sustainability goals – and get farmers rewarded for their sustainable farming efforts."