New research from Farm Journal’s Trust In Food initiative, in partnership with the Environmental Defense Fund, looks at the growing importance of sustainability and conservation-focused products and services for the ag retail business.
Ag retailers sell growers inputs needed to produce their crops.
“Agricultural retailers have tremendous influence over food production in the U.S. and beyond, given their role in informing farmers’ purchasing decisions and providing agronomic advice,” Theresa Eberhardt, project manager at Environmental Defense Fund and expert reviewer of the report, said in a news release. “This also means ag retailers have an unprecedented opportunity to become unexpected conservation heroes, and to accelerate sustainable food production. Our new report offers a roadmap for how to get there.”
The report, called “Growing for the future: Business lessons from ag retail’s conservation leaders,” gives insights from interviews with nine sustainability leaders in the ag retail sector, according to the release, in addition to feedback from a national survey of more than 70 ag retail professionals.
The release said the report:
- Reveals how ag retail companies are integrating products and services related to conservation agriculture and the sustainability of agriculture into their business portfolios;
- Looks at the positive “ripple effect” that integration of conservation can have on an ag retail organization’s business, customers and the environment; and
- Identifies steps that can help the ag retail sector scale adoption of sustainability-related products and services.
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