Collaborative Adaptation Award 2024
Truterra and The Minnesota Agricultural Water Quality Certification Program’s Climate Smart Farms Project have an established public-private relationship dating to 2016, and together have been working toward the shared goal of empowering farmers to implement conservation practices that build climate resilience.
Truterra is an agricultural sustainability business that offers consultation, tools and solutions for the ag and food value chain. Backed by Land O’Lakes, Inc. and its over 100-year-old cooperative system, everything Truterra does is with the farmer at the center. Truterra creates new market opportunities for farmers by adopting agronomic, economic and environmentally sound practices. These programs are delivered through Truterra’s network of local ag retail advisors who work directly with farmers on their sustainability journey. Truterra is also bridging the gap between farmers and companies with sustainability goals who choose to make agriculture part of their toolkit of solutions. Truterra recently received a USDA Climate Smart Commodities Grant to help scale its work across the nation.
The Minnesota Agricultural Water Quality Certification Program’s Climate Smart Farms Project creates an entry point into the adaptation conversation with farmers. It provides growers with an unbiased and friendly climate audit of their farm, identifying existing beneficial management practices and opportunities to improve. Farms that go through this audit can earn the “Climate Smart Farm” endorsement and become eligible for a $1,000 payment. To further support producers, the program partnered with The McKnight Foundation, Minnesota Farmers Union, and Farmers' Legal Action Group to produce a “Farmers’ Guide to Carbon Market Contracts in Minnesota,” which provides clear and concise information on carbon markets — making these markets more accessible.