News

Measuring sustainability

A Michigan Cooperative executive says they need more data on what sustainable practices are being used by farmers to meet requests of end users.

Mike Janowicz with Cooperative Elevator Company in Michigan’s Thumb tells Brownfield they’re working with farmers to collect information on sustainable efforts being made.  “The agricultural industry has been doing a lot of these practices for years but we really haven’t been telling a good story about it–variable rate spreading, GPS, grid sampling, and the efficiencies of the new tractors—but we really haven’t told that story.”

Janowicz says Cooperative Elevator is gathering more data to tell agriculture’s sustainability story and to learn from what’s being done.  “What are the best practices to get the best yields; to go over the fields the least amount of time; and every grower has their own way of doing things, but are they all the correct way of doing it?”

He says with an estimated two billion more people on the plant by 2050, agriculture will need to find the best practices and technologies possible.  “We need to get more efficient, we need to figure out how to do a better job and do it with the environment in mind to keep the environment safe so we’ve got hundreds and hundreds of years to keep producing food.”

Cooperative Elevator practices what they preach. A few examples include conducting energy audits, and offering several recycling programs for farmers and their local community.

AUDIO: Interview with Mike Janowicz