World Grain - November 2024 - 46

Sustainability in focus at
Producers, end users discuss its impact on their business
by Arvin Donley
The recipients
of the 2024
Demeter Award
of Excellence
are, from left,
Ebony Webber,
MANRRS;
Elzandi
Oosthuizen,
Bayer Crop
Science; and
Sharon Beals,
Women Meat
Industry
Network.
ustainable agricultural practices are being emphasized
more than ever so it was no surprise
that sustainability - and its impact on farmers
and end users - was a hot-button topic at this year's
Women in Agribusiness (WIA) Summit in Denver,
Colorado, US.
" It's a major goal of all agribusinesses, " said Janet
WIA Summit
S
Fisher, content manager for WIA, who moderated a session
on the subject. " Everybody has sustainability goals,
plans and programs and all of them need producers upstream
from them to engage and lower the total carbon
footprint of every product they make. But many of the
farmers don't feel they've made it worth their while.
That's not to say they're not doing the work to get there. "
The summit, held Sept. 24-26 at the Hyatt Regency
in downtown Denver, drew nearly 1,000 attendees
from 47 states and nine countries. Speakers covered
four general tracks including sustainability, animal agriculture,
media and communications/public relations,
and networking.
The session led by Fisher, " Engaging Farmers and
Ranchers in the Industry's Sustainability Programs, "
was at times tense as representatives from different
parts of the supply chain spoke about the challenges
of meeting sustainability goals and the impact it has on
their operations and financial bottom line.
Many of the world's leading agribusiness companies
have strongly emphasized their commitment to store
and process grain that was produced in a sustainable
manner. But to ensure customers that the products
they're receiving were produced using regenerative agricultural
practices, agribusiness companies need buyin
from the farming community.
According to research released earlier this year by
McKinsey & Company, while 90% of US farmers understand
what sustainable farming entails, the uptake
of such practices remains low. And even where farmers
are adopting sustainable practices, they are only implementing
them on a small share of their acreage, typically
less than 30%.
Fisher said the session was designed to kickstart a
conversation between the various stakeholders.
" It's going to be a tough conversation, but if we don't
have the conversation we'll never get to where we all
want to go, " she said.
Upcoming election impact
Another session focused on the upcoming US elections
and how the outcome could impact agricultural producers
and agribusiness.
Mary Kay Thatcher, senior manager, federal government
and industry relations for Syngenta, told the
audience that the Democrats likely will cede control
of the Senate to the Republicans. But the House of
Representatives could go either way, and the presidential
election between Vice President Kamala Harris, a
Democrat, and former President Donald Trump, the
Republican challenger, also appears to be a tossup.
" We likely will still have a ton of gridlock in this
country after this election, " Thatcher said, noting that
46
November 2024 / World Grain / World-Grain.com
Photos by Arvin Donley
http://www.World-Grain.com
World Grain - November 2024

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