Federal Programs, Carbon Markets Mean Opportunities for Growers

 Carbon credits. Environmental assets. Climate-smart commodities. ESG scores. Regenerative farming. No matter what it is called, growers and our cooperative partners are continuously bombarded with requests from third parties to do more, collect more data and be more involved at the farmgate in the environmental space. 

   With ServiTech’s focus on data and decision excellence and our team of agronomists and lab professionals at hand, ServiTech can provide a turnkey solution for data collection, analysis and validation with any platform. It is a natural fit to include our experts as a part of your strategy to capitalize on the expanding opportunities of sustainability, sound agronomics and environmental consciousness.

   ServiTech President and CEO Ryan Hassebrook says the company is geared to be at the forefront of navigating the challenges, the technology platforms, the validation and the marketplace with grower customers. Hassebrook says ServiTech is also growing its expertise with the addition of crop service staff who specialize in conservation and environmental agronomy.

   “With federal programs from the USDA, possible rule updates with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and a growing demand for ag product end users, there’s a lot at stake for both farmers and ag businesses,” Hassebrook says. “We can help.”

   In March 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed a rule to require publicly-held companies to provide extensive climate disclosures, including measured impacts for their entire supply chains. Such a rule change faces a number of hurdles before being implemented, but it serves are a precursor for what could come.

   Although farmers and ranchers are not public companies and, therefore, are not required to report directly to the SEC, the obligations to their regulated customers could be enormous. What does this mean for companies who are utilizing U.S. farm products? Those companies will spend dollars to buy from growers and cooperatives who can document climate-friendly practices. And ServiTech is here to collect, analyze and validate all levels of production information for its customers.

   “When public companies must disclose greenhouse gas emissions they will go back to their supplier for information,” Hassebrook says. “It all rolls downhill from the box of corn crisp cereal at the supermarket to the packaging facility, processing mill, the grain elevator and the local corn farmer.”

   The majority of U.S. farm operations and retailers may not be prepared to comply with SEC regulations of this magnitude. As proposed, this SEC rule has the potential to require a grower to provide very detailed information that currently is not captured anywhere else, down to the gallons of fuel put into each piece of machinery and each machine’s emissions.

   “As an industry, we cannot be caught flat footed when these types of rules and requests for validation come,” Hassebrook says. “ServiTech is gearing up to help its customer base.”