TruTerra, The Mill and EDF Maryland and Pennsylvania Wheat Project
The goal of the partnership between The Mill, Truterra, and the Environmental Defense Fund is to advance sustainable agricultural practices in Maryland and Pennsylvania. Manufacturing facilities in Denver, PA; Downingtown, PA; and Hanover, PA, are located in the critically impaired Chesapeake Bay area and source wheat from growers in this geography. The project intent in 2018 was to pilot a public-private, and the intent is to deliver access to stewardship insights and improvement opportunities to growers. There were no specific improvement targets, rather the focus is to show continuous improvement year-over-year. Seven KPIs are used to demonstrate year-over-year improvement including: Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Nitrogen Use Efficiency, Soil Quality Trends, Wind Erosion, Sheet and Rill Erosion, Conservation Practices Deployed and Truterra™ Insights Score.
The 2018 baseline metrics on 10,000 acres in Maryland and Pennsylvania were shared with project partners in Q2 2019. Year-over-year changes in KPIs and conservation practice adoption were tracked and reported in Q2 2020.