PepsiCo and Unilever Small Grains
Providing farmers in PepsiCo and Unilever supply sheds a cost-share to add a year of small grains to a corn/soybean rotation and provide their production data from each year in the rotation. Components of the cost-share will include payments for including a small grain with a legume cover crop in a farmer's corn/soybean rotation and also payments for corn acres with reduced nitrogen inputs following that small grain and legume mix. The production data collected will be used to understand the environmental impact of extending rotations by an additional year and to communicate these benefits to the participating companies with an interest in reducing greenhouse gas emissions in their supply chain. This project will be a one-season pilot project allowing for a surrogate crop (wheat) to be used in the rotation for rye. The project will not use the National Indicators Report for data comparisons, the spidergram, national or state benchmarks and only use comparisons of data within the project.
Engagement Targets
Notes: (1) Minor fluctuations in the number of retained growers is expected from year to year. These fluctuations may be due to year-over-year crop rotation effects or other factors beyond the control of the project. Enrolled acres represent the total number of acres on an individual farm in a specific year. The ability to report enrolled acres is based on the Fieldprint Project Standard requirement that individual growers enrolled in projects enter at least 10% of the acres managed for a specific crop. (2) Entered acres represent the actual number of enrolled acres for which data is entered in the Fieldprint Platform for analysis.
Objectives
For the 2025 program, PFI only recruited ERCS alumni to participate in the program. PFI received applications from 259 farmers; a total of 136 farmers completed the program, 35 of whom are eligible for impact metrics reporting by Unilever for a total of 3,887 acres enrolled.
The 136 farmers in the 2025 program reported a high level of satisfaction with the program. Ninety-two percent of the farmers said they were somewhat likely or very likely to recommend the program to a friend or fellow farmer, for a net promoter score of 64.
Of these 136 farmers, 83% indicated that extended rotations that include a small grain have positively or very positively impacted their farm financial goals. Many of these report reductions in their farm operating costs. Nearly half of the farmers (45%) report that extended rotations are the dominant crop rotation on their farms, whereas the slight majority (55%) report a corn-soybean rotation dominating.
In this first year of PepsiCo support of extended rotations cost-share, 101 farmers in the PepsiCo supply chain participated in ERCS, with a total of 13,195 acres enrolled. Unilever support of extended rotations cost-share, 35 farmers in the Unilever supply chain participated in ERCS, with a total of 3,887 acres enrolled.
For the 2025 program, PFI only recruited ERCS alumni to participate in the program. PFI received applications from 259 farmers; a total of 136 farmers completed the program, 101 of whom are eligible for impact metrics reporting by PepsiCo.
The 136 farmers in the 2025 program reported a high level of satisfaction with the program. Ninety-two percent of the farmers said they were somewhat likely or very likely to recommend the program to a friend or fellow farmer, for a net promoter score of 64.
Of these 136 farmers, 83% indicated that extended rotations that include a small grain have positively or very positively impacted their farm financial goals. Many of these report reductions in their farm operating costs. Nearly half of the farmers (45%) report that extended rotations are the dominant crop rotation on their farms, whereas the slight majority (55%) report a corn-soybean rotation dominating.
Removals: We will estimate removals using Roth-C in addition to the Soil Carbon Indicator in the Platform after collecting field level data this summer and learning how to use the model. Based on estimates from Rothamsted University PFI estimates that we will report removals of no more than 1100 lbs CO2e/acre.
In 2025, enrolled corn acres following a small grain and cover crop rotation, estimated of 1 lbs. CO2e per bushel GHG emissions or 13 lbs. CO2e per bushel GHG emissions with out counting soil carbon removals.