Farmers in the Upper Midwest are utilizing actionable data to make informed decisions about the conservation practices implemented on their farms. Results from the inaugural year of the Farmers for Sustainable Food Climate-Smart Program were unveiled today at the Dairy Business Association’s 2025 Dairy Strong conference. This showed that these sustainable farming practices are achieving positive environmental outcomes.
The first year of the FSF Climate-Smart Program shows promising results as part of a five-year effort to empower farmers. As well as add value throughout the supply chain. The initiative builds off a nationally recognized model, FSF’s Framework for Farm-Level Sustainability Projects. This helps farmers determine what conservation practices are most effective for their individual farms. The program also provides tools to document the environmental and financial effects.
The Results
In 2024, the program consisted of five projects with 53 farms in Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota and South Dakota. They participated in data collection and analysis regarding their 2023 crop-year information. In total, the program encompassed 100,193 acres of cropland and 71,686 head of cattle.
Farmers enrolled in the FSF Climate-Smart Program receive individual reports showing key metrics for their farms. Aggregated results from year one of the program demonstrate the broad, positive environmental impact of sustainable farming practices.
The data captured from those enrolled in the first year of the project showed that the farms reduced 49,161 tonnes of CO2e per year. This is from implementation of cropland best management practices. On average, 0.49 tonnes of CO2e per acre per year. This is equivalent to powering 6,602 U.S. homes for one year or removing 11,467 U.S. passenger vehicles from the road. In comparison, the reduction on the farms is comparable to the amount of CO2e that nearly 49,311 acres of forestland remove each year.