Compeer joins Land Core initiative to decrease financial risk of adopting soil health practices

Compeer Financial, Farm Credit cooperative based in the Upper Midwest, and non-profit organization, Land Core, establish partnership to pilot Land Core’s predictive model of risk mitigating benefits of soil health practices.

Compeer Financial and Land Core have announced a new partnership in which the member-owned Farm Credit cooperative will support the soil health non-profit’s cross-sector initiative to build a predictive model of the risk-mitigating benefits of soil health practices.

There is broad scientific consensus that soil health practices, like cover crops, no-till, and diverse crop rotations, can improve resilience to flood and drought, and can sequester carbon. Mounting evidence also shows that these de-risking practices can improve yield stability and farmer profitability over time. Yet there is still a need for economic incentives to help producers adopt these operational changes.

“The Land Core Risk Model will give financial service providers the missing tools they need to quantify the risk reduction benefits of soil health practices,” said Harley Cross, co-founder and director of strategy at Land Core. “This will enable them to develop incentives that de-risk their clients’ operations and de-risk their own lending and insurance portfolios at the same time.”

Compeer will develop and pilot various incentive options based on the Land Core Risk Model in Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin later this year, becoming the first major agricultural financial services provider to approach risk assessment through the lens of sustainability and soil health.

The Land Core Risk Model, which uses satellite imagery to quantify the impacts of soil health practices on yield stability, is being developed by a cross-sector team of experts including faculty and researchers from UC Berkeley, Michigan State University and UC Davis, along with industry-leading modelers and advisors from Regrow (formerly Dagan, Inc.), CiBO Technologies, Open Rivers Consulting Associates, Stanford University and Colorado State University.

Source: Compeer Financial

To view source article, visit:

https://www.compeer.com/press-releases/2021/june-2021/compeer-joins-land-core-initiative

Organic & Non-GMO Insights August 2021