JOHNSTON, Iowa, July 24, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Growers Edge, a technology firm that provides modern financial products and data-driven tools for agricultural retailers, manufacturers, and lenders, today announced the addition of Elena Bell, Director of Sustainable Business Development, to its leadership team.

The move comes after Growers Edge supported a significant awardee of the EPA’s $14 billion National Clean Investment Fund in early 2024. As part of the Agricultural Finance Sustainability Coalition, the company helped Climate United, a national nonprofit, secure nearly $7 billion. It will use the funding to promote agricultural solutions to pressing environmental problems.

Over 90 percent of farmers are aware of sustainable farming practices, but adoption remains low. Perceived risk is one major barrier: farmers are hesitant to change practices without certainty around yield improvements or other operational benefits. Cost is another hurdle: 47 percent of farmers cite the high cost of technology as a top-three concern. Effective agricultural technology companies align sustainability interests with the interests of their grower customers.

“My extended family operates a Century Farm in Iowa, and they were early adopters of conservation agriculture techniques in the ‘90s. What was true then is true today: sustainable agricultural practices must also make economic sense for growers,” said Bell. “Growers Edge has already proved that it’s possible and profitable to foster that adoption and advocate for the best interests of the grower by reducing the perceived risks associated with changing farming practices.”

Growers Edge offers crop plan warranty programs and input lending tools that increase adoption of innovative, environmentally-friendly practices through direct partnership with manufacturers, retailers, and industry groups.

With experience spearheading sustainability strategy development for organizations like The Nature Conservancy, Ceres, and Tyson Foods, Bell joins the company to deepen existing strategic partnerships and form new relationships that share the company’s mission of promoting sustainability and resilience in agriculture.

In addition to serving four of the top ten largest retailers in the country, Growers Edge has partnered with organizations like Nutrien, PepsiCo, Mondelez, Helena Agri-Enterprises, and The Nature Conservancy. The company recently expanded RangeAg, its farmland valuation tool, to cover more than 144 million acres of land across nine states.

“Successful agricultural technologies must be both economically and environmentally viable,” said Matt Hansen, CEO of Growers Edge. “With the help of Elena and our fellow members of the Agriculture Finance Sustainability Coalition, we’ll promote widespread adoption of cost-effective, environmentally-conscious practices that make sense for growers, our partners, and for our planet.”

To learn more about partnerships with Growers Edge, visit growersedge.com.

About Growers Edge

Growers Edge provides modern financial products and data-driven tools that help forward-thinking agriculture retailers, manufacturers, and lenders reduce their growers' risks and costs when adopting newer innovative solutions and practices. The company's Crop Plan Warranty and input financing solutions are trusted by dozens of retailers and manufacturers to assist hundreds of growers affordably purchase their products and guarantee yields on nearly one million acres of cropland.

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