FAQ

About

What is AgSpire?

AgSpire works across food and agriculture value chains to build resilience and deliver sustainable outcomes. We partner with leading companies and organizations to design and implement sustainability programs that are beneficial for farmers and ranchers, credible for the companies, and impactful for the environment.

We take a producer-centric approach, utilizing our team’s deep first-hand experience with production agriculture to design practical programs and provide technical assistance that helps farmers and ranchers advance their operational goals through our programs.

What is the SustainAg Network?

AgSpire’s SustainAg Network is a free, no commitment network for farmers and ranchers around the country interested in adding or expanding their use of sustainable practices – like perennial seedings, holistic grazing, cover crops, no-till, nutrient management, and more.

Through the Network, AgSpire offers voluntary programs that combine technical assistance and incentives for those practices to build resiliency and value within farms and ranches. Once you’ve joined the Network, one of our Producer Programs Advisors will work with you to understand your operation and goals, giving suggestions for programs that will help accomplish those go

What if you don’t have a program that fits my needs?

If one of our current programs is not a good fit for you operation at this time, we will share future opportunities through our email list (add sustainag@agspire.com to your safe sender’s list to receive our emails). Additionally, with the information in your Producer Profile, our Producer Programs Advisors will share customized recommendations when a new program might be a better fit.

What’s the cost?

Signing up for The SustainAg Network and any of our programs is completely free for farmers and ranchers.

We leverage partnerships with companies and organizations to develop and implement programs, allowing us to offer technical assistance and resources to producers at no cost.

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About the Sustainability Landscape

Is this a carbon program?

No, none of our programs are carbon offset programs.

Instead, we work with companies and organizations who are looking to support producers and generate sustainable outcomes. Based on the program’s priorities, this includes a variety of outcomes – including soil health, biodiversity, water quality, efficiency gains, as well as reduced carbon and methane emissions.

All programs are voluntary, many with short-term contracts, and include cost-share or market premiums to help add or expand sustainable practices on the ground.

Any carbon reductions or removals generated through our programs are not sold as credits outside of the supply chain, as is the case in traditional carbon credit programs.

Why are companies and other organizations offering these programs?

For both compliance and to meet voluntary goals, companies and organizations are increasingly making public sustainability commitments to improve the environmental impact of their operations and strengthen supply chains. These programs are designed to deliver value to the farmers and ranchers implementing them, while simultaneously making progress toward those goals.

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About Eligibility

What type of operations do you work with?

By offering multiple programs within The SustainAg Network instead of one-size-fits-all solutions, we are able to offer program options for many different kinds of operations: big and small, across the country, and a variety of commodities.

What does Historically Underserved mean? And why are you asking this information?

Some programs offer a different incentive structure or resources for Historically Underserved producers. We currently use the FSA definition and a self-reporting system.

Historically Underserved, includes Limited Resource and Socially Disadvantaged Farmers or Ranchers. Additionally, some programs offer benefits for beginning farmers and ranchers, at least 50% female farm or ranch ownership, veterans, and small producers, generally receiving less than $350,000 in annual gross cash farm income.

What would prohibit me from enrolling?

Our advisors will work with you to understand your operation and determine program eligibility. Instances that prohibit a producer from enrolling in a program within the SustainAg Network would include:

• Ineligibility to receive farm payments from FSA
• Acres are enrolled in a carbon program that claims outcomes
• Acres are enrolled in a federal, state or local program that are incentivizing for the same practice the producer is looking to complete
• Producer doesn’t meet other requirements set forth by specific programs, for example geographical location or production type

Can I enroll if I’m already in another cost-share, carbon credit, or sustainability program?

Your Program Advisor will work with you to understand what programs you are currently enrolled in and determine compatibility with the programs offered in The SustainAg Network. Programs that incentivize the same practice for the same acre or animal typically cannot be stacked.

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About Verification & Payments

Is my data protected?

We take data privacy very seriously. Each contract contains our privacy policy – in which we agree to not share producer information outside of program reporting requirements.

How do I get paid for the programs?

For each of the programs offered in The SustainAg Network, AgSpire manages payments to producers. Once contract conditions are met and practices have been verified (usually through a verification visit, testing for outcomes, and/or physical verification such as receipts), AgSpire will make payments to producers, which are distributed quarterly.