Ask anyone across our operations what working sustainably means, and you’ll hear a similar answer: It’s how we do things. Still, when the Sustainability team set out to explore this more deeply, interviewing dozens of employees and gathering insights from more than 280 survey responses and 185 external sources, they discovered an opportunity to bring even greater clarity to a value we already live every day. The result is a practical framework that highlights the areas of greatest impact and aligns our focus around the sources of lasting value.
Nearly a century in farming and ranching has taught us that caring for land, water, animals, people, and communities is essential to long-term success. This understanding is already deeply embedded in our culture, but as our work grows more complex and the demands on agriculture evolve, the team saw an opportunity to capture what employees already practice intuitively and translate it into a companywide framework – one that organizes our efforts, strengthens alignment, and helps every team see where it fits in.
“The goal of the framework is to provide clarity around our core value to work sustainably and identify which of our resources are most material to long-term value generation,” said Sustainability Sr. Manager Alyssa Condie. “Working sustainably isn’t a trend at AgReserves. It’s about responsibly managing the resources our business depends on for sustained success.”
At AgReserves, working sustainably is built into how we operate every day and is a core part of our foundation for achieving operational excellence.
“Standardizing our best practices helps everyone grow faster, learn more easily, and deliver consistently great results,” said Director of Continuous Improvement Jack McClellan. “When we all work from the same strong foundation, we set ourselves up to succeed and win together.”
Defining Our Sustainable Stewardship Priorities
Through committee discussions, one-on-one conversations with about 45 members of our leadership teams, and survey feedback from 280 employees, as well as an industry-wide analysis of more than 180 organizations, the team identified the highest impact areas for our company: sustainable stewardship priorities. These eight priorities reflect what working sustainably means across farms, ranches, orchards, and supporting teams.
- Responsible Water Management
- Sustainable Land & Soil Health
- Supporting Ecosystems & Climate Adaptability
- Responsible Energy Management
- Animal Health & Welfare
- Responsible Waste & Material Management
- Safe & Quality Working Conditions
- Community Engagement
These priorities aren’t new; instead, what the framework provides is a shared language to describe the stewardship-focused work our teams already do. While the priorities are consistent companywide, each operation can adapt them to fit local landscapes, challenges, and opportunities. Working sustainably looks slightly different on every property, but the principles behind it remain the same.
Outcome-Based Stewardship
A key component in the new framework is the focus on outcome‑based stewardship. Rather than pushing toward broad, one‑size‑fits all targets, this approach emphasizes results that directly support long-term value and resource resilience.
Outcome‑based stewardship strengthens our work in three important ways:
1. External Credibility
It helps us engage transparently with customers, partners, and communities by demonstrating real stewardship outcomes.
2. Internal Alignment
It guides teams toward high impact, material actions that improve land, water, operations, and relationships.
3. Operational Adaptability
It allows each team to tailor its approach to fit local needs and conditions while still contributing to shared long‑term goals.
“What we choose to measure shapes how people act,” McClellan said. “When we’re clear about the results we want, we can select the performance measures and targets that motivate people to focus on what truly matters, helping ensure we get the results we’re aiming for.”
Grounded in the Mission
Our mission emphasizes generating long-term value through responsible, value driven agricultural operations that feed the world and support the communities where we live and work. Our core value of working sustainably reinforces this mission by making one thing clear: Long-term value is created when financial performance and natural resource stewardship support each other.
The team summarized the connection simply: Profitability + Natural Asset & Community Stewardship = Long-Term Value.
Financial strength ensures operational resilience. Natural resource stewardship ensures future productivity. Community engagement strengthens the places where we live and operate. When all three work together, they create value that lasts – not just for this season or this market cycle, but for generations.
Bringing It All Together
The most important message behind this framework is also the simplest: Working sustainably isn’t new. It isn’t separate. It isn’t something we do in addition to our work. It is how we work.
Whether improving irrigation efficiency, strengthening soil health, managing grazing responsibly, ensuring safe working conditions, or partnering with local communities, our teams practice stewardship every day. The new framework doesn’t change what we do – it clarifies it, aligns it, and equips us to demonstrate it more effectively. In the coming months, we’ll share stories from across the company that bring these priorities to life, along with insights from the employees who helped shape the framework. Their voices – and the work they do – remain at the heart of working sustainably at our company.