The Situation
The agriculture industry often receives pressure from consumers and government entities regarding sustainability and social responsibility, such as the desire for organic and sustainably sourced products. Despite the fact that pork producers have made great strides in their on-farm sustainability practices for generations, the pork industry is no exception to this pressure and scrutiny.
NPB unveiled its new sustainability goals in February 2022 to build on their continued progress. The goals looked at taking an action-based and scientific approach to set benchmarks for the current state of the pork industry and create goals for how they wanted to continue to improve in the future, with additional and more current data and engaging across the supply chain to share progress.
NPB needed additional support and expertise to complete the data collection and quantification, as well as a place to store the data. Eocene was retained during this time to quantify pork producer’s on-farm data and make on-farm improvements for on-farm sustainability.
Our Solution
Eocene provided data collection and aggregation, field level and barn-level quantification, as well as a database that stored and modeled the information. This allowed Eocene to not only help prove, but also showcase all the positive steps that pork farmers have taken thus far and the ways they are currently working to have a positive impact on the environment. In addition, Eocene assisted and continues to support the farms with continual improvement of their on-farm sustainability. Eocene’s goal was to make data collection and aggregation quick and efficient to help farmers prove and showcase their efforts. At the end of the project, each farm is provided with a report that highlights the data that was gathered and the environmental metrics Eocene was able to model, along with a real-world graphical report that can be shown to others and easily digested and understood.
Field-Level & Barn-Level Quantification
Eocene provided NPB with a scientifically-backed platform to collect and track their data. Taking things a step farther, the platform performed models behind the scenes, providing environmental numbers based on their farm footprint. Eocene took all their in-field management practices and examined their environmental metrics, such as measuring barn emissions, field-level emissions, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, carbon sequestration, soil erosion, and more which helped compute the modeling.
Post Quantification
Sustainable Continuous Improvement Plan (SCIP)
Eocene provides NPB pork producer farms with a SCIP, with the goal of giving producers credit for their current sustainability practices while providing science-based short and medium-term goals for improving their environmental impact.
After examining the data collected and taking an aggregate look at where the specific farm is currently positioned, Eocene helped formulate recommendations and action plans. The team takes a comprehensive look at the farm and its respective practices, examines the supply chain, and creates sustainability goals for the farm, including improving various metrics, lowering emissions, improving carbon sequestration, lowering soil erosion, adjusting land management practices such as low till or cover crops, and more. From there, the team provides best practices for implementation, monitoring and tracking. Eocene can also consult with farmers on funding opportunities they are eligible for in their region, provide one-on-one consulting for farm implementation, and can consult on ways to work toward any specific sustainability goals outlined in the SCIP.
R3TM ROI Tool
Eocene provides a return on investment (ROI) tool, the R3TM ROI Tool, that provides farmers and the supply chains they serve with customized data about the financial and environmental benefits of implementing regenerative agriculture practices. This tool serves as a benchmarking and comparison tool which uses farm-specific verified data to show the projected impact of change in farming practices such as manure usage, tillage type, and cover crop implementation, allowing farmers to evaluate their specific operations. Utilizing data from our EcoPractices® platform, the R3 ROI tool provides farmers and the supply chains they serve with customized data to determine whether any sustainable practice has a return on investment for the pork producer.