Why Scalable Sustainability Data Is Important for Agribusinesses

Below is an excerpt from a presentation delivered by DTN agriculture account manager Joe Lopp at the CropLife Tech Hub Live event. Watch the full presentation here.

 

With sustainable agriculture increasingly crucial for both environmental stewardship and business success, having a reliable and accurate source of data is foundational. However, the path to implementing sustainable practices is fraught with challenges, particularly regarding data collection, analysis, and reporting.

These challenges start at the field level with a ripple effect across the entire industry.

 

Barriers to adoption

A primary obstacle is complex application process for grants and sustainable programs.
One of the primary obstacles facing producers today is the complexity of application processes for grants and sustainable programs.

These are often time-consuming, requiring extensive administrative support and expertise that many farmers—especially those running smaller operations—simply don’t have. Adding to this challenge are the stringent, highly specific eligibility criteria for many grants and programs.

 

Key needs for sustainable ag reporting

Without more accessible and comprehensive technical support, adopting the necessary changes to qualify for these programs can be daunting. To address these challenges, the industry should focus on these four key areas.

1. Sustainable insights, including carbon reporting, for key commodities across the major U.S. agricultural states.
2. A better way to identify and verify producers’ sustainable practices to bolster confidence in ESG reporting.
3. Simpler, more efficient methods for providing carbon intensity (CI) scores at both the field- and grower-level.
4. Tools that identify and measure regenerative ag activities by field to support future market compliance.

 

The solution: Comprehensive data systems

A compelling solution to these challenges lies in a comprehensive data system designed to provide superior sustainable insights.
A compelling solution to these challenges lies in a comprehensive data system designed to provide superior sustainable insights. Such systems use advanced approaches for capturing farm activities, including cover cropping, no-till practices, and reduced input application. Additionally, third-party certification is crucial to verify these practices through rigorous auditing, testing, and standard development.

A digital solution that easily addresses these needs is DTN EcoField™ data, an environmental footprint calculation solution. The process begins with remote sensing to identify sustainable practices, such as cover cropping and tillage practices, across 34 states at the field level.

This is followed by an estimation phase, where DTN partners with companies such as IC Farm Track to gather data on sustainable practices from a sample of 36,000 farmers.

With information connected to more than 24 million agricultural fields and covering over 320 million crop acres, DTN EcoField offers a previously unprecedented ability to connect farms to specific fields. The data then undergoes a rigorous modeling process to derive comprehensive and accurate results, including:

• The GREET model for carbon intensity scores

• Cool Farm tool for emission factors

• Field to Market tool for biodiversity assessments

• The Comet-Farm model in the Farmers for Soil Health program

 

Simplify sustainability reporting 

The goal of simplifying this process for farmers allows them to focus instead on implementing sustainable practices—without being bogged down by complex technical requirements and endless questionnaires. This not only facilitates the adoption of sustainable practices but also provides transparency and accountability that stakeholders increasingly demand.

For agribusinesses and companies that rely on accurate and reliable carbon footprint reporting, investing in a robust data system is not just advisable – it’s increasingly essential.

 

To learn more about sustainable agriculture insights from DTN visit here.