Corteva Agriscience announces 2030 sustainability goals to increase agricultural resiliency

Date:06-03-2020

Corteva Agriscience announced on Monday its 10-year commitments to advance sustainability throughout the global food system. The goals span a wide range of initiatives for farmers, the land, communities where employees and customers live and work, and in its own operations. Improvements in soil health, on-farm productivity, climate action, water stewardship, biodiversity, supply chain transparency and worker safety, among others, are included.

“Our mission to lead the entire agriculture industry toward better, more sustainable outcomes across the world is more important now than ever,” said Corteva Agriscience Chief Executive Officer James C. Collins, Jr. “We believe there is no better time to commit to protecting and preserving the source of our food, and helping our communities thrive. We support those who provide for us all.”

The goals reflect the company’s size and scope, total focus on agriculture, and deep relationships with farmers and collaborators across the ag value chain, said Anne Alonzo, Corteva Agriscience SVP External Affairs and Chief Sustainability Officer. “Sustainability is nothing new to Corteva. Our announcement is simply our public commitment to 14 specific and measurable goals that will advance sustainability for farmers, protect our land and natural resources, improve our communities, and benefit our operations.

Corteva’s 10-year commitments will provide tools and training to help increase yield stability, optimize inputs, and improve climate resilience. Commitments to soil health, water stewardship, and biodiversity are also included. Corteva’s goals will champion and protect employees and people throughout the food system and the broader agriculture community. Within their business operations, the company is pledging to innovate sustainably, establish a climate strategy, use sustainable packaging, and increase their work sites’ sustainability efforts.

Corteva will report progress toward these goals through an annual sustainability report starting in 2021.

The company’s 2030 sustainability goals include:

Goals to benefit farmers:

- Provide training for 25 million growers on soil health, nutrient and water stewardship, and productivity best practices.
- Help increase the productivity, incomes, and sustainable farming practices of 500 million smallholder farmers cumulatively through 2030.
- Design, validate and scale management systems that will enable farmers to sustainably increase crop yields by 20% compared to 2020 as a baseline, while simultaneously reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20% within cropping systems compared to 2020.

Goals to benefit the land:

- Improve soil health on 30 million hectares of global agricultural land by 2030.
- Support water stewardship advances in global agricultural production by 2030: Help accelerate improvement in nitrogen use efficiency across global agricultural land by 2030; and reduce water consumption while helping to increasing yields on 2.5 million hectares of seed production and water stressed agricultural land by 2030 compared to 2020.
- Enhance biodiversity on more than 10 million hectares of grazing lands and natural ecosystems globally through sustainable management practices and habitat conservation by 2030.

Goals to benefit communities:

- Protect the safety of people at Corteva facilities and those working in agriculture.
- Empower women, enable youth, and engage communities around the globe where Corteva Agriscience employees and customers live and work, by 2030.
- Volunteer one million employee hours to support people and communities around the world by 2030.
- Increase supply chain transparency from farmers to consumers, by leveraging digital tools that enable farmers to create additional value through transparency in agriculture markets, food systems, and communities.

Goals for the company’s operations:

- Ensure every new product meets sustainability criteria by 2025.
- Establish a climate strategy for scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions, including appropriate reduction targets by June 1, 2021.
- Only use recyclable or reusable packaging by 2030.
- Operate every site more sustainably through waste reduction, water conservation, and enhanced biodiversity.