New tools for farmers

In today’s complex marketplace, farmers are looking for a digital edge. Cargill is deploying a variety of smart tools for producers that enable us to work together more effectively and sustainably.

Cargill teams in Canada use Greenlight Grower Management, a cloud-based program developed by a third-party vendor, to capture field and crop data for farmer customers. The tool analyzes this data to help customers plan crop rotation, as well as fertilizer and crop protection applications. Farmer customers are empowered to make more informed choices for their operations that help drive profitability.

In Côte d’Ivoire, Cargill and SourceTrace Systems developed a software solution that helps cocoa farmers increase the sustainability of their production. Equipped with a cloud-enabled mobile app, lead farmers who act as coaches collect and quickly analyze field-level data. With the resulting insights, farmers work with their coaches and cooperatives to make production decisions that increase yields and meet certification standards for sustainable cocoa. GPS maps generated through the process also advance understanding of how climate change may impact cocoa farming and help address deforestation. Aided by this on-farm coaching, cocoa farmers who fully adopted farm development plans saw yields rise by an average of 49 percent last year.

Dairy Enteligen™, a Cargill animal nutrition software platform debuted in Italy, Spain and the U.S., helps dairy farmers make the most of their operations. The system connects disparate data on feed formulation, animal biometrics, and farm management and finances. It creates a comprehensive analysis that changes how Cargill consultants work with their dairy customers. Before even setting foot on the farm, they know how much milk a customer’s cows are producing and why, and have identified opportunities for improvement.

An eye in the sky

Tapping data gathered by satellites and other sensors, Cargill is developing more informed analysis about everything from crop yields to the movements of shipping vessels on the high seas. These insights help us better serve our customers and reveal ways to achieve greater sustainability.

This year, we partnered with World Resources Institute’s Global Forest Watch to map approximately 1,900 Cargill sourcing areas of cocoa, palm, soy and other commodities – a region almost seven times the size of the U.K. Based on 2014 data, this work establishes a baseline that we will use to track our progress in eliminating deforestation in our supply chains.