Protect Nature

A critical part of environmental conservation, planting trees helps to rehabilitate degraded areas, create corridors to reconnect isolated pockets of forests, and support plant and animal biodiversity. Specifically, planting native saplings – trees that are a few years old and have already developed a root system – allows local biodiversity to recover by improving water quality, providing habitat for wildlife, preventing soil erosion, and sequestering CO2 from the atmosphere. 

In 2022, our colleagues in Paraguay partnered with A Todo Pulmón to plant native tree saplings. Through an ADM Cares grant, the group was able to plant an additional 8,500 trees, bringing their annual total to 203,000.  

In Brazil, we work with Parque Vida e Cerrado, a local NGO focusing on reforestation, scientific ideation, and environmental education. Their efforts have resulted in the planting of over 75,000 native seedlings, helping to restore natural corridors along streams and other degraded land within farms in our supply chain.

Check out a vídeo of our colleagues in action.

As part of the second phase of our efforts with Parque Vida e Cerrado, ADM Cares sponsored a study to monitor and track large animal movement through soybean farms in our supply chain to see the impact on apex species.

Two maned wolves were fitted with radio collars to observe their movement patterns. The red line shows the male wolf, and the yellow line shows the female.

In addition, trail cameras have been set up to monitor for other species. So far, the cameras have identified 31 different species of mammal, including five species listed as threatened by the IUCN: marsh deer, oncilla, giant anteater, South American tapir, and the Brazilian three-banded armadillo.   

The American River Transportation Company (ARTCO), an ADM subsidiary, is helping support Living Lands & Waters’ (LL&W) efforts to protect, preserve, and restore the nation’s inland waterways by donating a used tugboat through ADM Cares.

The donation of a 750-horsepower vessel dubbed “Nancy S.” will serve as an upgrade to LL&W’s equipment and help the organization allocate funds to other projects that meet their mission. The LL&W crew spends up to nine months of the year living and traveling on their barge, hosting river cleanups, watershed conservation initiatives, workshops, tree plantings, and other impactful restoration work.

Our relationship with LL&W dates back to 2004 and throughout our partnership, ADM teams have volunteered their time to support programs including environmental restoration projects, invasive species removal, and free educational programming in communities along the Mississippi, Illinois, Tennessee, and Ohio Rivers. Through these efforts, we hope to strengthen and sustain these communities and support initiatives that drive meaningful social, economic, and environmental progress.