Monsanto has announced they will be supporting the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) and its Soil Health Partnership (SHP)‘s efforts with a $1.6 million investment.  NCGA was recently awarded $1 million dollars from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA-NRCS) to help farmers find better solutions for reducing climate change.  Monsanto’s contribution will provide expertise, tools and resources to help verify and qualify greenhouse gas reductions from carbon smart farming practices.

“Climate change is a global challenge facing the entire planet and agriculture has the opportunity to be a huge part of the solution. We’re honored to be partnering with NCGA and the SHP on this grant from USDA-NRCS. Together, we can bring focus and resources to help identify ways that modern agriculture helps drive sustainability,” said Brett Begemann, Monsanto President and Chief Operating Officer. “We look forward to continued collaboration with farmers and forward-thinking industry partners who are leading the way in making greenhouse gas reduction a reality on the farm.”

Monsanto, in conjunction with the CIG project partners (NCGA, AgSolver, Applied GeoSolutions, DNDC-ART, Climate Smart Group and CropGrowers) will develop a framework that draws on existing greenhouse gas modeling science, emerging verification technologies (satellite data), and proven precision business planning methods to drive adoption of conservation practices and validate that farmers are helping achieve greenhouse gas reductions.

“To significantly scale up greenhouse gas mitigation practices, a sustainable agriculture systems approach is needed that is simpler and more cost-effective for the farmer,” said Michael Lohuis, Ph.D., Monsanto’s Director of Ag Environmental Strategy. “The system being developed will help remove barriers to confirming adoption of best practices and to quantify the benefits these innovative farm practices can have to air, soil and water quality.”

Monsanto has committed to making its own operations carbon neutral by 2021 and works with farmers around the world to encourage best farming practices.  You can read more about their efforts to reduce greenhouse gasses in the “Charting a Path to Carbon Neutral Agriculture: Mitigation Potential for Crop Based Strategies” report.