Global agribusiness CHS, the United States’ largest farmer-owned co-operative, has released its sustainability report for the year 2024.
In the report, CHS says its long-term sustainability strategy is focused on reducing its impact on the climate, minimising deforestation risk, serving people and communities and growing the co-operative voice through stakeholder engagement.
“Sustainability is part of everything we do on behalf of our owners and to ensure long-term success for CHS and the co-operative system,” added president and CEO Jay Debertin and chair Dan Schurr.
“CHS is committed to reducing our impact on the planet, finding and developing new solutions in agriculture and energy, and investing in ways to build a better future for our owners, customers, employees and communities.”
In 2024, CHS completed a Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas inventory baseline to track its emissions. CHS’s total GHG emissions for 2024 was 3,187,869 CO2e in metric tons. 77% of this came from energy activities, 22% agriculture and 1% transport/other.
Related: Minnesota co-op members approve $250m merger with CHS
Establishing this baseline will allow CHS to measure progress and identify emissions reduction opportunities, says the report. CHS has now integrated carbon emissions impact into its capital expenditure planning process, ensuring that the climate impact is assessed for major projects beyond a certain stage of development.
CHS is also working with owners and customers to provide low carbon solutions, for example, by increasing the supply of low carbon nitrogen fertiliser to US farmers, and supplying renewable fuels and other low-carbon sources of energy through its energy supply chain.
The report also details CHS’s focus on mitigating deforestation risk in Brazil. CHS is a buyer of grains and oilseeds, including corn and soybeans from farmers and third-party resellers in Brazil, transporting them to customers around the world. The co-op says it is working to minimise deforestation through investment in traceability infrastructure, such as satellite-based crop monitoring technology, to monitor the socio-environmental conditions of the commodities it sources.
Related: How to feed the world sustainably? Scottish agri co-ops consider the options
“The agriculture industry and CHS have always evolved to meet new challenges, adapting to uncertainty and change,” said chief sustainability officer Megan Rock. “As a company intrinsically linked to the land, we believe our business model should drive sustainable outcomes that improve agriculture and rural America.”
CHS and its charitable arm, the CHS Foundation, have also been working towards goals around supporting rural communities in the US through education and local projects, the report says.
In 2024, CHS invested $8.2m into these projects, such as educating 1,751 students about co-ops, supporting 4,930 college students in completing degrees in agriculture, and matching funding for 208 local projects in rural communities.
Founded in 1931, CHS is formed of over 750 member co-ops representing 575,000 farmer-owners. The co-op serves customers in more than 65 countries and employs over 10,000 staff, generating $39.3 billion in revenue this year.
