Our commitment consists of four quantifiable metrics we specifically use for maintaining the land on which we grow the crops and feed for our dairy cattle.

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• Plant cover crops after we harvest in the fall, which sequesters carbon from the atmosphere and reduces our carbon footprint. Cover crops also protects the soil from winter erosion and the groundwater and nearby streams from nitrogen runoff from rain.​

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• Reduce tillage or plowing of the land to maintain soil structure and sequester carbon in the ground. Tilling breaks up the ground and leaves the topsoil (the topmost two to seven inches of dirt that contains microorganisms and nutrients) prone to erosion.​

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• Prioritize regular soil testing so we can accurately fertilize the soil based on the crops we are growing. Our application of fertilizer is persistent and replenishes the soil’s nutrients that are removed from the crops and plants. ​

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• Rotate the crops we plant each year. Cows eat a lot of corn…but they also eat a lot of soybeans and alfalfa too. This works great for us and the soil because we can grow corn one year then plant alfalfa on the same field the next year. We do this because corn is a nitrogen-needing plant and takes a large amount of nitrogen out of the soil. On the other hand, alfalfa is a nitrogen-depositing plant. It takes nitrogen out of the air and puts it back in the ground. Rotating our crops also adds biodiversity, which helps keep unwanted plants from growing with our crops and combats pests that can infect the crop with diseases.

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Benton Group’s Regenerative Cropping Initiative results… 3,000 new acres added to the initiative in 2018, 71,500 pounds of nitrogen kept out of streams and other bodies of water, and 238 dump truck loads, (10.5 million pounds) of soil retained in Indiana fields.