Bayer, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Bushel announce the development of a new initiative, Project Carbonview. The initiative is “designed to help create a unique digital carbon footprint measurement to drive more sustainable supply chains and mitigate the impact agriculture has on the environment,” said a Bayer Crop Science spokesman in an email to Farm Journal.
“The initiative will initially enable ethanol producers in the U.S. to track carbon emissions across the entire supply chain – from planting through production – and implement more sustainable business practices by providing the data needed to make more informed purchasing decisions and reduce their carbon emissions,” he said.
Beginning as a pilot program, Project Carbonview is focused on creating awareness and acceptance for low-carbon fuel markets. Eligible farmers who enroll in the pilot will receive compensation for participation. Ultimately, once these markets are broadly established, the plan is for growers to be compensated based on the implementation of sustainable farming practices and to share in the financial incentives created by low-carbon fuel markets, Bayer reported in a news release.
Project Carbonview, focused currently on the United States, will enable U.S. ethanol producers to track carbon emissions across the entire supply chain – from planting through production – and implement more sustainable business practices by providing the data needed to make more informed purchasing decisions and reduce their carbon emissions.
For farmers who opt into the program, Project Carbonview streamlines on-farm data collection with Bayer’s Climate FieldView application and connects it with delivery and transportation data captured from the 54,000 U.S. active users of Bushel’s platform. Through the Climate FieldView, farmers continue to own their data and choose who to share their data with, Bayer said.
Project Carbonview, which is built on AWS, allows permissioned access to on-demand product transaction and crop exchange market data from the ethanol production facilities through the Bushel platform to evaluate the carbon impact of sourcing and purchasing decisions, the release said.
As part of a recent pilot, Project Carbonview identified opportunities to optimize supply chain partners to reduce downstream supply chain emissions in a single year. For farmers, Project Carbonview provides another option for them to participate in and capture value from these evolving markets.
This new solution marks the latest development by Bayer – which is working to build a portfolio of farmer-facing programs to complement its existing Bayer Carbon Initiative, a program which incentivizes the adoption of climate-smart practices, creating new revenue streams for growers who use technology to keep carbon in the soil – and out of the atmosphere.
The team behind Project Carbonview is piloting the solution with U.S. corn producers during the 2022 season and plans to expand the program in the future to other global regions and other feed grains, food grains and oilseeds such as soybeans.
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