SPEAKER_01 0:08

I am Abigail Waller, your host, and today I have on with me Hannah Vance, and she is going to talk with us about sustainability. So, Hannah, I'll turn it over to you if you'll introduce yourself and we can kick it off.

SPEAKER_00 0:20

Thank you, ma'am. Good morning, everybody. So my name is Hannah. I'm over here being our sustainability program manager. Basically, what that job entails is for me to evaluate all the sustainability programs that are available to y'all today and make sure that we get the right adoption, execution, and growth for the programs that are really going to benefit our growers and our stores, anyone that it's going to touch. So that being said, that can include a private program, a public program, anything out there worth of at the state level, at the local level, all the way up to some of these major conversations with major food and beverage companies.

SPEAKER_01 1:04

So tell us how sustainability, as it's Evan Flood, tell us where we are now and then how that fits Green Point and how we can advertise it and get our guys enrolled in it.

SPEAKER_00 1:19

Well, it's um sustainability as a whole, that is a big buzzword that I feel like a lot of folks have heard over the past decade or so, whether it's in our sector or other sectors of agriculture and beyond. So the simple way to understand sustainability is to understand it as stewardship. Ultimately, that's what we're doing is understanding that there needs to be a stewardship of our natural resources, our land and our water, especially, so that it's preserved and allowed for future generations to, you know, benefit from it in the same ways we have, maybe even more so. And so for anyone at Greenpoint to really capitalize or you know get see some benefit from these programs as an additional stream of revenue, is just to understand the role that stewardship plays in their operation. Um, anyone that's able to do that, whether it be a no-till operation, folks that have been doing it for decades, or ones that are just converting to it, um, even strip till reduced till, ones that are uh checking out if a cover crop program fits their operation, whether it's one species or multiple species, as well as different types of nutrient management. I would say these are the major plug-ins that are going to make anyone's sustainability journey profitable, successful, and really put them in a place where they can see benefits to some of these programs that are out there today.

SPEAKER_01 2:46

And so, what would be some of these programs that we're enrolling our guys in? I guess, well, let's let's look back to last year before and just and tell us what that looked like, what um programs we participated in, success stories. Tell us all about that.

SPEAKER_00 3:03

So, sustainability um from the standpoint of you know it being, you know, a whole sector of our business, I would say we saw just sort of a major resurrection of what true sustainability should be. Um, in previous years, we may have seen companies that were attempting to do some of these scope three programs, some of these carbon programs. They had really difficult to understand formulas, really difficult to understand metrics. And in the end, all of the work did not always pay off, unfortunately. Um but here recently, a partnership that we have engaged with in Arva has really brought forward some of that uh true sustainability journey in that where, you know, we're just telling our story that goes into sort of the same formula, but it's something that's actually actionable, and farmers are seeing a true benefit from and are wanting to return to these types of programs because it shifts instead of just expecting a new practice change to get something going and get some type of payment. Um, Arva as a partner has been able to get us to where you tell your sustainability story, whether that is no-till, nutrient management, cover crops, biologicals, water management, the list goes on and they're able to tell that story to some of these major companies who are looking for sustainability type credits and then see a full benefit all the way back down to the farmer who's telling that story.

SPEAKER_01 4:35

Which is kind of nice because I feel like some programs in the past, it's been very cookie-cutter, like you have to do this specifically to be enrolled. Whereas, to my knowledge, from what you just said, they're taking your story, your sustainability practices, and finding where it fits best. Is that right?

SPEAKER_00 4:54

Yes, yes, and that's kind of what makes uh being part of a Greenpoint sustainability program a little more attractive than some of these major national level or international level programs, where Arva does have an international reach. They do a great job about understanding down to the field level, they don't lose sight of what's happening on the ground level in terms of you know the grandeur of how large these programs can be. So being able to stay more regional, more nimble, more have a beat on all the things that are happening, I think is what makes us have a really successful sustainability program versus a national level program.

SPEAKER_01 5:33

Yeah, absolutely. So since we've kind of covered last year, let's talk about this year. I know you're working really hard to find opportunities to get everybody enrolled. I know you've been on the road some this week um talking with guys about these programs. Tell us what will come down the pipe for just say crop year 27.

SPEAKER_00 5:52

For crop year 27 and in uh just the current year that we're looking at, um, we are just seeing um a really, no pun intended, a really sustainable growth where it really makes sense and where it really is going to benefit folks. So you heard me mention Arva before. In the past, we started a pilot program with them, I'd say two years ago, and it has grown to a level where, you know, last year we saw about $300,000 worth, give or take, out to our growers just for doing the right things and being a good steward of their land. Um, this year we've seen an increase in those acres alone, about 70% increase in those across various parts of our footprint across various crops. Beyond that, um, a lot of folks understand that, you know, sustainability metrics, programs, um, grants, a lot of that has to do with what our current administration decides on. So where we're seeing, you know, different types of NRCS programs that, you know, maybe they're breaking even, maybe they're seeing a little more offerings. Um, on the other side of that, we're also seeing some opportunity with sustainable fuel development. So I try not to say too much just because it's it's still being decided, it's still in the works, but you know, we're at a place where we can see more of that just good sustainability story told that lowers a CI score, which is just a fancy term for you know, no till and cover crop, increasing the health of your soil, increasing the quality of your soil, and then being able to benefit off of that with a tax credit. So that's something that could be potential as well, not just uh scope three programs through ARVA, but also NRCS programs, different water benefit programs, maybe ones that are being put on through, you know, all the various data centers we keep seeing popping up all over the place, but not only them, also with Google, also with Amazon. Uh, those are some big key players that are wanting to understand the volumetric water benefits of the places where they're developing these things. And so it's it's it's just gonna be an enormous grouping of various different programs, both private and public, that are going to be coming down the pipe here within the next uh year or two.

SPEAKER_01 8:09

Okay, that's great. So let's talk a little bit about Arva because I know I had several guys in the program last year and it was really successful. One of the things you told me was if we fill our acres, the the likelihood of them giving us more next year is very possible. Did you see that jump this year? So as we keep filling them, do you think we'll keep getting more and more acres to give out?

SPEAKER_00 8:36

Sure, and and I would see we see that jump um every year since we've decided to pilot with Arva a couple of years ago. So Arva is a group that does um crop intelligence, sort of that AI stuff and data management for these scope three programs, but they link directly with these food and beverage companies, get a contract from them and work it downstream over to our growers. So they the way it works, they'll secure a contract, they contact their partners, which we are a partner of theirs, probably their largest partner in the southeast, and they let us know here's your allotment. We have so many thousands of acres of beans, wheat, corn, sugar cane, um, a really diverse crop grouping that they offer. And they let us know that you can make up to this, tell us your story, which is just a really wonderful approach to our folks who are new or maybe are considering coming back to a sustainability program. And through that, um, I spend most of my time from June all the way through the following March just collecting that information, telling that story for us, um, whether that is, you know, the various things that I mentioned that can benefit a sustainable operation. They collect all of that information together and push it forward. So I got off the rails a little bit there. But in the first year, our pilot year, we saw a very small program offering of about 1,300 acres of wheat, um, which unfortunately it was just really difficult for us to fill at the time. It was uh kind of a down year in the wheat market. Uh, but the following year, we saw uh some offerings in soybeans, some offerings in sugar cane. Uh, we filled those up immediately with good clean data that came right out of Accufield. Um, so that is someone that I love to work with also is someone who is using their Accufield account to keep good clean data, good, clean reports that I can just pull and make a great story for to get them a good payment.

SPEAKER_01 10:36

The following Accufield, tell tell us a little bit about what you need. So when you're collecting this data, just what are the few quick things that you try to pull?

SPEAKER_00 10:46

Sure. So Arva gives us the option of probably 20 different data points that we can submit, anything from rotational grazing and irrigation all the way up to, you know, your are you using a variable rate method for your planning? Are you using precision technology in your planning and your sampling and your applications of your of your fertility program and your crop protection programs? So at a base level, what we've learned really helps folks maximize that payment is putting together a master soil book within the past three years. Um, just because it is so comprehensive, there's so much data involved there. Um, that I think that's something that the folks at Arva and their associated partners really love to see is that data put together so cleanly and so organized. And uh for my seat, it's just easier to go and drop it right in. I bet. Um, so that is a way that we can show that the soil is sampled. Um, we're following our four R's to the best of our ability, and variable rate is at least being considered, if not fully executed. Um, from there, you know, those as planted maps, those as applied maps, those are great, easy things for me to go in there and pull. It's great and easy for the ATS team to go in there and pull and upload and again really tell that story in a really easy, clean way. Um, but additionally, um, Arva can accept receipts, um, Power BI reports, those types of things as well as evidence towards you know, a farmer's sustainability journey.

SPEAKER_01 12:19

One thing too, I thought about when you said the irrigation, we do the the moisture probes. Do you think they would accept like the graph or the season-long graph that we get with that moisture probe as far as showing irrigation management? I think they absolutely would. So that's another way to prove what you're doing.

SPEAKER_00 12:40

Yes, yes, and especially the more we see benefit from these water programs, um, not only with an ARVA, but for example, another partner of ours that we are piloting this year with agriculture in rice, um, you know, we're really moving towards a place in the sustainability market where it's not just about cover crop and no-till anymore. It's about understanding your water management as well as your nutrient management. So using those moisture probes, those nitrogen probes, um, and we can just pull a graph from that. That is a great story to tell, not just for an ARVA program, but for just about any program I would touch, I would imagine.

SPEAKER_01 13:17

Yeah. And the nitrogen probes are not out yet. We're in a pilot with them too. We're doing some testing this year to decide if that's something we want to roll out going forward, if we can find figure out how to read them and use them. So um, but yeah, Hannah, I think that's that's awesome. Um, we're coming to the end of our time. Is there any other points that you're like, okay, this is this is important information to know?

SPEAKER_00 13:44

Um, what I think is important for folks to know is you know, sustainability programs and data collection, big data collection is no longer something that that we need to just get on with. You guys have incredible stories of sustainability and even regenerative agriculture for that matter. So just collaborating that data and using it for your benefit is something that you can do here today, whether it's with an ARVA program, a public program, one of these 45Z programs. There's just an explosion and a revolution happening with sustainability and regenerative agriculture. So I encourage you to, you know, maybe where you were burned in the past or hadn't given it a lot of extra thought, let's have a conversation, see what I can do for your store, for your region to really get that story out there and help you get an additional benefit and revenue stream from it.

SPEAKER_01 14:32

And if you're already doing it, you might as well get paid for it, right? There you go. That's how I got it. So nothing to them. Well, this is Hannah Vance. Um, she is our sustainability coordinator and she has a great job. Um, if you are interested in any of these programs, finding out more about them, contact Hannah or your ag tech, and we can get you situated as you know which programs are available, what will fit your area, your growers, and we'll do our best to get some money back to them and to the store as well. So, Hannah, thank you so much for being on here today on the Field Notes podcast. Um, we look forward to being with you next time. I am Abigail Waller, your host. Thanks.