Archer Daniels Midland Co, (ADM), Chicago, and Farmers Business Network (FBN), San Carlos, Calif., on July 21 announced they have signed an agreement to expand availability of FBN’s digital farm business management platform, Gradable, to ADM’s network of farmers across North America, offering 55,000 growers a comprehensive digital solution to manage their businesses and measure sustainable production data.
“FBN’s Gradable is not only the major digital innovation farmers need to identify opportunities to drive profitability, but it is also the carbon accounting system upon which a low-carbon ag economy can be built, with the potential to decarbonize the food and fuel supply chains on a gigaton scale,” said FBN CEO Amol Deshpande.
“Combining ADM’s scale and expertise and FBN’s digital technology with the ability to efficiently, accurately, and consistently calculate and verify regenerative farm practices is powerful, and promises to serve as a catalyst for the development of premium markets that reward farmers for sustainable production,” he added. “This level of transparency is then transferred down the line to consumers, supporting demand for sustainable consumption.”
ADM announced last November that it had made a minority equity investment in FBN (GM Nov. 24, 2021) and that the two signed a letter of intent to expand their relationship through a range of potential areas of cooperation. Those included: enabling FBN’s 30,000 farmers to sell grain to ADM’s network of origination facilities with digital record-keeping, sustainability tracking, and payments through the Gradable platform; advancing research to develop new biologicals, seed traits, fertilizers, and crop protection products; enabling FBN farmers to purchase ADM products such as fertilizer and animal nutrition through FBN’s e-commerce and finance platform; and increasing access to inputs for FBN farmers by leveraging ADM’s distribution network.