Sustainability

Caring for our owners and our communities

At CHS, we are passionate about sustainability. Caring for the land while feeding the world will always be at the heart of the cooperative system. As we create connections to empower agriculture, we focus on sustaining healthy places for people to live and work, with opportunities to learn and thrive together.

What sustainability means for CHS

Three fundamentals make up the CHS approach to sustainability: economic viability, environmental stewardship and community well-being, which includes our stewardship initiatives. Each fundamental includes four focus areas where CHS teams are establishing goals, noting areas of excellence and identifying opportunities for improvement.

CHS sustainability fundamentals

Economic

viability

We strive for shared prosperity with our owners and employees, based on positive, progressive change that drives long-term strength and growth.

Environmental

stewardship

We work to maintain healthy places to live and work, caring for and making effective use of our natural resources, preserving them for future generations.

Community

well-being

We are vested in and support strong communities, where people feel safe and valued and have opportunities to learn and thrive together.

Sustainability in action

Optimizing nutrient management

CHS is fully engaged with planning and advancing The Fertilizer Institute’s 4Rs Nutrient Stewardship program. We put 4Rs principles into practice by providing agronomic recommendations and developing products that maximize nutrient availability to grow crops and improve soil health.

Training that empowers employees

More than 1,100 CHS employees have enrolled in the Lean practitioner certification program that enables and empowers them to identify opportunities for improved efficiency and performance, then take actions to increase customer value. Lean practitioners are encouraged to consider sustainability fundamentals as they pursue continuous improvement to benefit our owners and help CHS become more sustainable.

Teamwork for COVID-19 relief

CHS Seeds for Stewardship grants matched contributions by member cooperatives in more than a dozen states to help buy ventilators, serve meals, provide counseling and address other critical COVID-19 needs.

Protecting communities and employees

We collaborated with local emergency and public health directors on a special location-readiness plan before bringing out-of-town crews to a rural community for an elevator construction project during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Helping hometowns thrive

As part of the 2019 CHS Days of Service program, CHS employee teams organized group service projects and spent more than 20,000 hours volunteering in their hometowns.

Working with food chain partners

Through Field to Market: The Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture, CHS and partners are conducting a five-year program to track and improve resource management and soil conservation. CHS farmer-owners have enrolled more than 160,000 wheat acres in the program.

See how we are investing in community well-being

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Working together for greater impact

Cooperatives can apply for matching grants to strengthen communities.

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Sustainability

Caring for our owners and our communities

What sustainability means for CHS