Land O’Lakes

Land O’Lakes CEO Beth Ford photographed in the company's headquarters in Arden Hills, Minn., July 29, 2021. Ford leads the company as it celebrates it's 100th anniversary as a business in 2021. Richard Tsong-Taatarii—Star Tribune/Getty Images
Richard Tsong-Taatarii—Star Tribune/Getty Images Land O’Lakes CEO Beth Ford photographed in the company's headquarters in Arden Hills, Minn., July 29, 2021. Ford leads the company as it celebrates it's 100th anniversary as a business in 2021.

Land O’Lakes does far more than sell butter. The century-old cooperative has ramped up efforts to help farmers adopt regenerative agriculture practices, like using cover crops to improve soil health, which in turn makes food more nutritious. It also helps soil absorb atmospheric carbon. Under CEO Beth Ford, Land O’Lakes’ sustainability business, Truterra, has paid farmers over $9 million to sequester 462,000 metric tons of carbon. With support from a new $90 million USDA grant, Truterra aims to help up to 20,000 farmers and dairy producers reduce greenhouse-­gas emissions by about 6.9 million metric tons of CO2 over five years—roughly equal to taking 1.5 million cars off the road for a year.

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