2023 Carbon Ready Sustainability Report

Over a decade of learning and planning went into positioning the cooperative with the right people and partners to build Riceland’s Ingrain Good Sustainability Program. In the last three years, the Sustainability team, alongside Arva Intelligence, has created, vetted, and implemented the Riceland Carbon Ready™ Program to develop new market opportunities for climate-smart practices.

Thanks to the innovative data captured through the Riceland Carbon Ready™ Program, our farmer-members are not only utilizing sustainable practices but are also rewarded for them, while also helping our customers achieve their Scope 3 GHG emission reduction goals. Through this program, sustainability is no longer a buzzword; it’s a driver of innovation in agriculture, creating new opportunities and a brighter future.

Through the Riceland Carbon Ready™ Program, we drive new market opportunities, support our farmer-members as they implement and maintain sustainable on-farm practices, and holistically care for the land.

This report is a testament to the collective efforts of our farmers, employees, and customers. It’s a source of pride, showcasing how we work together to accomplish our goals and positively impact the world in a significant way. It’s the best of our cooperative, serving its larger purpose of feeding the world sustainably, and it’s a testament to the fact that we achieve better results by cultivating the land together.

United We Grow,

Kevin McGilton President and CEO

200 BILLION

GALLONS OF WATER SAVED TO DATE

Water is the world’s most critical natural resource. Everything and everyone rely on water for life and this is especially true for rice production. As a farmer-owned cooperative, we set an ambitious goal to reduce water usage associate with rice production by 250 Billion gallons by the end of year 2025.

We knew this was a lofty goal, but our farmer-members who make up this cooperative are some of the most sustainable rice farmers in the world.

We are excited to share that with two growing seasons remaining in our target, we have surpassed the mark of 200 Billion gallons of water saved. Utilizing our Riceland Carbon Ready program, we have been able to improve our data collection process and gather more granular information from farmers to increase the veracity of our calculations.

This one of the many benefits of our Riceland Carbon Ready program that has paid out almost 4.5 million dollars to our farmer members for the implementation of sustainable farm practices. We are excited about the future of this program and value it brings back to our farmer-members and the communities we serve!

In year two of our Riceland Carbon Ready™ program, we experienced significant expansion, with almost 400% growth in farmer enrollment. This program creates an opportunity for Riceland farmer-members to provide climate solutions for many of our valuable customers. Riceland Carbon Ready™ not only rewards farmers who are implementing sustainable farming practices today but also gives our farmers the tools and support needed to adopt new sustainable practices moving forward.

Through our partnership with Arva Intelligence, we can now quantify these onfarm practices that directly reduce the cooperative’s resource usage, provide benefits to our home communities and better serve the environment as a whole.

At Riceland, we believe actions are more important than words. We know the health of the planet directly impacts the quality of our rice. More importantly, it benefits the people that stand with us – our farmers and our customers.

Thank you for your commitment to the greater good we can create together through this program. We appreciate your continued trust in the farmers who grow Riceland rice and your partnership to create opportunities to scale sustainable growing practices that drive value for our farmers and the environment.

United We Grow,

Adam Shea Vice President of Government Affairs & Sustainability

MEET YOUR SUSTAINABILITY TEAM

Adam joined the Riceland team in 2013 and has led our sustainability efforts since 2015. Adam’s experience in agriculture and the farming community has allowed him to lead the program to new heights each year.

“We are excited to see significant growth in Riceland Carbon Ready™ and look forward to providing our farmer-members with access to new markets.

ADAM SHEA

Austin joined Riceland's sustainability team in 2020 and has helped develop the Riceland Carbon Ready™ program that brings value back to Riceland's farmer-members through environmental markets.

Austin has a passion for agriculture and utilizing the collective power of a cooperative by collaborating with our valued customers.

AUSTIN BROWN

Chandler started at Riceland in June of 2023 and has been an integral part of growing Riceland Carbon Ready into what it is today.

Chandler leads our farm data collection efforts and plays a critical role in connecting with our farmer-members who are enrolled in Riceland Carbon Ready.

CHANDLER HOLCOMB

SUSTAINABILITY COORDINATOR

VP, GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS AND SUSTAINABILITY

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, SUSTAINABILITY

OUR INGRAIN GOOD PROMISE

In June 2020, Riceland launched its Ingrain Good Sustainability Initiative focused on creating value through sustainable practices across our farmer-owned cooperative.

The mission of Ingrain Good is to create value for Riceland’s members, employees, customers, and consumers by prioritizing the education and adoption of sustainable practices. Riceland focuses improvement efforts on reducing its carbon footprint, maximizing efficiencies, reducing consumption of natural resources and optimizing the safety and wellbeing for all people associated with the cooperative.

In February 2022, Riceland Foods announced its partnership with Arva Intelligence as the cooperative shifted its sustainability focus towards capturing the agronomic and economic data associated with its farmer-members crop production.

THE RICELAND CARBON READY TM PROGRAM

In June 2022, Riceland launched its Riceland Carbon Ready™ program in partnership with Arva Intelligence, to help members capture and utilize the farm-level data generated within their operations.

Riceland Carbon Ready™ also allows Riceland to help our customers in achieving their Scope 3 GHG emission reduction goals, while creating a meaningful impact for U.S. farmers and their land.

RICELAND - ARVA PARTNERSHIP

Riceland’s partner, Arva Intelligence (“Arva”) is a leading provider of software enabled data management, agronomic decision making, and environmental asset solutions. Arva’s software provides farmers and their advisors with tools to assist in agronomic decision making and management of field-level data, allowing them to aggregate high-quality datasets to quantify environmental outcomes.

Less than ten miles from the Riceland headquarters, Arva’s origins are rooted in Arkansas, where the Arva Research Farm is located. Seeking to better understand the outcomes of practice changes at the field level, Arva’s research with the Department of Energy and others has amassed data and information from the largest network of carbon flux towers in the corn and rice cropping systems, allowing them unprecedented insight into carbon emissions from field level activities, an important component of Scope 3 emissions quantification in agriculture.

Arva’s AI and data platform, CropForce TM , provides both agronomic decision making support and measurement, monitoring, reporting and verification (“MMRV”) solutions to support environmental asset claims. Arva Intelligence worked closely with Riceland to connect and collect farmer data through CropForce TM to accurately measure carbon reductions at the field level. The MMRV process drives a standardized approach to understand year over year

changes in complex systems and is an essential component to establishing quality outcomes, since all results must be reviewed by a third party.

Arva’s mission is to seamlessly connect farmers and ranchers to environmental asset markets with innovative technology to produce nature-based assets and enhanced crop yields. In addition to working with supply chain partners on Scope 3 emission reduction claims, Arva has a project listed under Verra VM0042 titled Arva Carbon Ready USA. Arva collaborates with universities, agricultural organizations, and our channel partners to support the agricultural community, as well as communicate with local stakeholders.

Arva is an active member in Field to Market: The Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture; USA Rice Federation; and the Value Change Initiative (VCI). Arva staff currently serve on the Field to Market Metrics Subcommittee and the VCI Systems Lab. Arva is collaborating with U.S. Farmers and Ranchers in Action through a commitment to their Decade of Ag Vision. Arva staff also participate in monthly stakeholder working groups with BCarbon, OpenTEAM (Open Technology Ecosystem for Agricultural Management), and Carbon A List.

$4 MILLION

IN 2023 FARMER PAYOUTS OVER

Riceland Foods distributed over $4 million to its farmer-members enrolled in the 2023 Riceland Carbon Ready TM program. Through this program, Riceland farmer-members are not only utilizing sustainable practices but are being rewarded for them.

Our team is focused on growing the program and seeking out additional opportunities for climate smart practices to be showcased on the farm and throughout the supply chain.

IMPACT

"The Carbon Ready program provides support for many practices we wanted to implement as we work to conserve water, reduce irrigation expense, and manage nutrients.

The data collection aspect fit in seamlessly with other conservation projects we were working on."

RICHARD MORRIS

1,235% INCREASE IN ACREAGE

$

1,249%

INCREASE IN FARMER PAYOUTS

WATER DUCKS BEHIND THE LOGO

Depend on flooded rice fields to provide habitat and nutrition essential to their migration journey each year

RICE

Needed to feed ducks and other migratory waterfowl

PROGRAM ELEMENTS

Needed to grow rice

The Carbon Ready TM program participants tracked key data points throughout the growing season to showcase how climate smart practices impact sustainable metrics with the assistance of Arva Intelligence.

For the 2023 program, growers exemplified quality land management, environmental stewardship and represent an echelon of agricultural producers who are working diligently to lead the agricultural industry by example.

Elements considered in the program include:

- CO2 e REDUCTIONS

- WATER REDUCTIONS

- IRRIGATION PRACTICES

- FERTILIZER PRACTICES

- SOIL SAMPLING

- TILLAGE PRACTICES

- OFF SEASON MANAGEMENT

SUSTAINABLE IMPACT

The C02 reductions generated on Riceland member farms had a significant impact on the scope 3 emissions of participating Riceland customers in 2023. The diligence of our farmer-members to lower their environmental impact is not overlooked, instead it is rewarded by companies all over the world.

138,684.19

TONS

TOTAL CO2E REDUCED IN 2023

For companies to meet the expectations of their customers, they must find a way to incentivize a positive environmental change throughout their supply chain. Making changes that reduce carbon emissions at the farm level can be expensive and risky, so programs that help mitigate that risk are an instrumental part in taking a step forward.

"The program helps identify how different management practices can help us produce our crops in a more climate friendly way.

I had the confidence Riceland had done their due diligence to develop such a program and select the right partners to bring value to the program participants."

MONTY BOHANAN ON-FARM IMPACT

CARBON READY PROGRAM PARTICIPANT

OFF SEASON MANAGEMENT

69,859

ACRES OF WATERFOWL HABITAT

Each year, millions of waterfowl migrate South in search of new food and resting grounds. The Mississippi Flyway, the largest and most used flyway in North America, follows the Mississippi River South and goes straight through the heart of Riceland’s footprint.

Because harvested rice fields provide the perfect environment for migrating waterfowl, Riceland farmers flood their fields to provide habitat and food for the millions of birds traveling through.

IRRIGATION PRACTICES

GALLONS TOTAL WATER SAVINGS

24,093,092,504

Water is a critical component in rice production. With rice being a semi-aquatic plant, water plays a huge role in relieving weed pressure and disease throughout the growing season.

With over 50% of the nation's rice crop being grown in Arkansas and Missouri, we have made it a priority to emphasize water stewardship to ensure rice production in our footprint is viable into the future.

ON-FARM IMPACT

"This program has allowed us to improve conservation practices that are beneficial in the long run.

This includes nutrient management that conserves nitrogen and exploring variable rate applications. We are able to better utilize water through poly tubing and wetting and drying practices."

DALE LEDER

CARBON READY

PROGRAM PARTICIPANT

OUR SHARED SUCCESS

With an incredibly successful 2023 program year behind us, we can’t help but look forward at what the 2024 Carbon Ready™ program has in store. Our Riceland members will continue to work in unison with Riceland customers to bring critical value to one another. Our sustainability team will continue to help connect those members with our customers looking to make an impact through Riceland’s footprint.

With continued interest in the Riceland Carbon Ready™ program, we expect to see continued growth throughout the next year while providing solutions to all our participating members and customers alike. We look forward to servicing you and showcasing the great strides Riceland members are making in the sustainability space during 2024!

FOR OUR MEMBERS LOOKING AHEAD

Through Riceland Carbon Ready ™, Riceland aims to provide additional avenues to enhance your operation and improve profitability on your farm.

If you’re an active operator and haven’t signed up for Riceland Carbon Ready™, scan the QR Code! A Riceland sustainability representative will reach out to discuss next steps.

FOR OUR CUSTOMERS

As climate impact continues to drive business decisions, Riceland is partnering with consumer package goods companies, retailers, and other supply chain stakeholders to deliver climate solutions.

If your company has sustainability goals and wants to make a significant impact on farms in the Midsouth, reach out to our sustainability team!