Coop Carbone and Sollio Agriculture launch the AgroCarbone Grandes Cultures initiative
Today, Coop Carbone and Sollio Agriculture announced the launch of AgroCarbone Grandes Cultures, an initiative designed to help farmers reduce and sequester greenhouse gas emissions and ultimately lead to the development of new offset-credit protocols in Québec’s agricultural industry. The announcement was made at Coop Carbone’s 10ᵗʰ anniversary celebration in Montréal.
As a first step in this long-term strategic collaboration between Coop Carbone and Sollio Agriculture, financial feasibility studies will be conducted on carbon reduction and sequestration solutions. These studies will stimulate the development of agricultural practices aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and sequestering carbon.
The project will leverage Sollio Agriculture’s capacity for aggregation and social innovation to work with the farmers who are members of Sollio Cooperative Group toward the common goal of fighting climate change and increasing the value of these efforts through agriculture’s carbon market. Having already implemented a similar project in the dairy sector—which led to the creation of Coop Agri-Énergie Warwick, the very first cooperative dedicated to the production of renewable natural gas in Québec—Coop Carbone will bring its cutting-edge expertise in carbon sequestration and, more broadly, in the carbon market.
AgroCarbone Grandes Cultures will be implemented in a structured, collaborative and transparent way to benefit the largest number of farmers, who will be closely involved in business decisions, and reduce costs. Sollio Agriculture will provide access to its network and Agconnexion, its digital platform that integrates a range of technological tools to simplify farm management and improve farm profitability, while maintaining data confidentiality. This model will allow farmers to leverage the power of the cooperative to remain both autonomous and in control of their credits, rather than selling them to a third party.
Through this initiative, we hope to identify the best methods for reducing and sequestering carbon while ensuring that we develop business models that work for farmers. We firmly believe that the project must be run by and for farmers if we want the next generation of farmers to be fully involved in the fight against climate change. Examples of potential solutions that could be effective and profitable for farmers include group purchasing, collective infrastructure, aggregation of carbon credits, and local food systems.
Farmers are very willing to organize themselves to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Right now, the segment is still developing and not sufficiently structured to provide farmers with viable solutions and a clear vision. This is a big challenge that we want to take on as a leading partner with Coop Carbone. The AgroCarbone Grandes Cultures project will support farmers in their climate action, help with their efforts to reduce and sequester greenhouse gas emissions while also retaining control over their carbon credits.
Scope of the project
The project, which aims to establish more sustainable farming practices across the country, will be phased in over 36 months and will initially focus on Québec, with the goal of eventually expanding to the rest of Canada to support national efforts in sustainable agriculture and environmental management. In its initial phase, the project will structure the local carbon market by developing protocols adapted to Québec. This will be done by creating economically viable and workable models for farmers operating Québec’s 11,000 field crop farms.
About Coop Carbone
Coop Carbone is a solidarity cooperative created in 2012 by La Coop Fédérée (now Sollio Cooperative Group), Desjardins, Fondaction CSN, the Association québécoise pour la maîtrise de l’énergie (AQME), and the Centre d’excellence en efficacité énergétique (C3E). Its mission is to act in the face of the climate emergency by supporting the implementation of collaborative projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Coop Carbone is active in three complementary areas: the development of energy cooperatives with the operation of agricultural biomethanizers; support for businesses and organizations wishing to participate in the fight against climate change by developing a strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; and sustainable mobility, an initiative aimed at making Québec communities the benchmark for sustainable mobility. For more information, visit coopcarbone.coop.
About Sollio Agriculture
Sollio Agriculture, the Agri-business Division of Sollio Cooperative Group, is a Canadian leader in the agriculture industry. It specializes in merchandising farm inputs and providing value-added services to benefit farmers, cooperatives and partners. Its business model combines the strength of a local approach with the power of a national presence to offer innovative solutions, work on adopting sustainable farming practices and help local farming families prosper. Present across the country, it has 1,300 employees and made $2.929 billion in sales in 2022.
In the photo, in the usual order :
Jean Nolet (Director General of Coop Carbone), Laurence Pelletier (GHG Sequestration Expert at Coop Carbone), Maude Fournier-Farley (Senior Director, Innovation and Business Solutions at Sollio Agriculture) and Casper Kaastra (CEO of Sollio Agriculture).
For more information :
Grace Chaoui at Weber Shandwick, gchaoui@webershandwick.com