Sowing the Seeds for a Better Tomorrow

How sustainable agriculture practices are strengthening communities and stemming the tide of climate change

By: Kate Silver    |   Sponsored by JBS Foods USA    |   02.27.2023

With the rising global population expected to reach nearly 10 billion in the next 30 years — up from about 8 billion today — the world is grappling with an unprecedented challenge: how is it possible to feed everyone, without further devastating a planet reeling from climate change?

Agriculture, while it nourishes the world, does so at an environmental cost: The industry accounts for 11 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions globally, according to the World Resources Institute. It’s a conundrum that’s on the minds of government officials, researchers and scientists, and business leaders up and down the supply chain, as they commit to making lasting changes.

The Way Forward

To meet those priorities, food producers like JBS USA, one of the nation’s largest, are working with partners in business and academia to transform the ways we use the land and make sustainable agriculture a priority.

JBS USA is the first company in its sector to pledge to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040. Because the majority of greenhouse gasses associated with the business come from its farmer partners and livestock suppliers, the company is collaborating with scientists to devise new ways of caring for animals and producing food that will reduce agriculture’s impact on the environment, without reducing farmers’ and suppliers’ incomes. In addition, through initiatives and investments designed to help strengthen towns and employees, JBS USA is also working to build not just a more sustainable industry, but more sustainable communities throughout the U.S.

“Agriculture depends on healthy people, healthy land and healthy food,” says Tim Schellpeper, CEO at JBS USA, who is also a fourth-generation farmer. “Sustainability demands balance among all of those, because if one part is off-kilter, it throws off the entire system. We must continue to invest in all of these priorities as a way of investing in our future.”

Tim Schellpeper CEO at JBS Foods USA

Using Science to Advance Sustainable Agriculture

Since recently joining the company, Jason Weller, JBS USA’s new global chief sustainability officer, has been talking to farmers about their challenges and priorities. Regardless of where the farmers live, he’s found their quandaries are the same.

“I’ve never met a farmer who wakes up in the morning wanting to negatively impact the environment. They rely on soil and water to produce and function, and they also need to be profitable. So, they’re constantly chasing after ways to be more productive, while also ensuring those natural resources will be available, and healthy, in the future.”

Jason Weller Global Chief Sustainability Officer, JBS Foods

For its part, JBS USA has committed $100 million in research and development of sustainable agriculture innovations for farmers and other suppliers. Part of that investment entails partnering with universities to bring to market new technologies and practices that will lower carbon produced in the livestock and feed sectors.

One such partner is AgNext, a two-year-old research collaborative at Colorado State University (CSU), where scientists work with farmers, ranchers, processors and consumers to better understand how animal agriculture impacts the environment and devise and test sustainable solutions. Kim Stackhouse-Lawson, Ph.D., director of AgNext, says there’s an enormous need to advance knowledge in this space.

"We're decades behind where the supply chain needs us to be in research."

Kim Stackhouse-Lawson, Ph.D. Director of AgNext

A recent project is aimed at understanding grazing practices in particular regions. Grasslands blanket about 20 percent of the surface of the earth, and researchers estimate that those areas could store 10 to 30 percent of the world’s carbon. While regenerative farming — which is a holistic practice to restore health and balance to the ecosystem — has become more popular in certain parts of the country, it also raises concerns in other areas, such as the arid West, where the ecosystem is more fragile.

AgNext set out to determine whether cattle in the West could actually be releasing carbon into the atmosphere as they graze on arid land. The answer, says Stackhouse-Lawson, came as a pleasant surprise: If the animals are well managed, there’s no difference in carbon release from grazed land than another landscape. “That’s phenomenal news,” she says. “We can actually maintain carbon that’s in those landscapes, which is very important, and we can produce food.”

If the cattle are overgrazing, however, they can release that carbon. So, to better understand best practices around grazing, AgNext, in partnership with JBS USA, devised a survey and asked experts in diverse regions across the West to share the most important practices for sustainable grazing and management. They received nearly 150 responses, which they’ll boil down to a handful of best-practice principles to share with livestock farmers.

"Cattle are raised in very different environments. And we need to develop place-based solutions that allow producers to continue to be good stewards of the resources that they have."

Kim Stackhouse-Lawson, Ph.D. Director of AgNext

AgNext researchers are also pursuing “a net-zero roadmap for beef,” says Stackhouse-Lawson. That’s because livestock, simply by breathing, contribute four percent of greenhouse gasses in the U.S. CSU recently built the largest research facility in the country to measure livestock emissions, capable of measuring methane produced by 300 cattle at a time.

Stackhouse-Lawson says it will allow them to answer a number of questions, such as: What can be added to food to reduce methane emissions? And, what role do genetics play in the amount of methane a cow emits?

Reducing the carbon footprint of agriculture is no simple task, says Stackhouse-Lawson. Advances will depend on partnerships like AgNext and JBS USA, that bring in voices and expertise from all across the industry. It will also require implementation and expansion beyond university’s campuses — and into the fields and practices of U.S. farmers.

“What I'm most encouraged about right now is the momentum we see, and how our industry partners have risen to the occasion to help support this work and help support us in a research field that's, frankly, significantly underfunded,” she says. “I'm hopeful that with the collective minds that are coming to the table, we're going to get some solutions out there in the next five years, and we'll have wins that reduce the impact on climate, make people more adaptive for the changes that are coming, and hopefully result in increased profitability for our producers as well.”

Sustainable Agriculture Depends on Strong Communities

Farming both as a family and generational pursuit continues to slowly decline in the U.S. The U.S. Department of Agriculture found that there were 2.01 million U.S. farms in 2021, down from 2.20 million in 2007. And the USDA finds that the average age of U.S. farmers has risen, up to 57.5 years — but it’s not for lack of trying to expand to a new generation of farms and farmers.

“There is still a desire to pass on the farm to kin, and this intuitive understanding that you can only do so if it's economically viable.”

Jason Weller Global Chief Sustainability Officer, JBS Foods

In part, that economic viability depends on a farmer’s quality of life and extends beyond the dollars and cents of the business itself. Today, most farms are located in rural areas where less than one-quarter of the U.S. population lives, according to the USDA; and many of those rural communities have growing needs for more support for education and economic opportunities.

But, commitments from the companies and organizations on the ground in those communities are making a difference. Through a program called Hometown Strong, JBS USA partners with local governments and organizations to identify ways to make a meaningful social impact in the 60 towns and more than 20 states where its businesses operate. Since 2020, JBS USA has committed $100 million to more than 240 projects that support all aspects of life, including the development of affordable housing projects, parks, schools, sports facilities, trails, community centers and more.

All across the U.S., a number of Hometown Strong projects are even helping educate the next generation of farmers by supporting science, technology and engineering programs at local schools.

“Understanding from a local perspective and partnering with the community on what their needs are can make an impactful, meaningful difference in the quality of life of the community,” said Weller.

JBS USA is not just investing in the communities they call home, but in their team members and families as well. To empower employees and their families through education, JBS USA has been building one of the largest free college tuition programs in rural America. Better Futures partners with 45 community and technical colleges to offer free education and training to team members and their dependents. The program launched in 2021, and more than 4,000 people have signed up so far — nearly three-quarters of whom identify as people of color. Weller refers to the efforts as “co-investing” in team members and their families to boost their educational attainment. “Ultimately, we believe that unlocks additional professional growth and opportunity,” he says.

Now, the choice is clear: either adapt practices and lessen the impact of agriculture on the environment, or continue down a less sustainable path.

For Weller’s part, he’s optimistic. Because even as the climate changes, with its severe weather events, and increasing fires, droughts and flooding, he’s seeing something else change, too. “In the last two to three years, there's been a global acceleration and participation and sincere investment on the part of the private sector in the food system,” he says. “What's now coming to fore in the private sector, in collaboration with universities, with researchers and with public sector agencies, is co-investing in what I believe will be transformative approaches to production in trying to reduce — if not turn the tide on — agriculture's impact on the environment, in a way that is productive and profitable for farmers.”