Carbon Conscious Barley in Argentina
20th January 2026
How data is driving Alea y Cía’s environmental management to reduce production impacts and improve business efficiency
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Alea y Cía S.A., an established agribusiness based in Argentina, has spent more than thirty years refining the way barley is grown in the south‑east of Buenos Aires Province. Since 2020, the company has been using SAI Platform’s Farm Sustainability Assessment (FSA) to verify farms and embed continuous improvement into barley cultivation. Today, its Farm Management Group of 13 producers, spans more than 53,000 hectares, including 15,000 hectares of barley verified at FSA Silver-level.
Progress has been rapid and measurable. Between the first FSA verification and the most recent re‑verification, the total certified area expanded from 26,000 to 53,000 hectares, while barley cultivation more than doubled. Sustainable barley exports rose accordingly, reaching 50,000 tonnes. Alea now aims to triple its cultivated area by 2026, scaling the model across more producers and, ultimately, more crops.
Alea’s strategy builds on two core FSA tools: the Priority Screening Tool, used to identify priority areas for continuous improvement, and the Continuous Improvement Plan, which structures long‑term action. This process led to a clear objective — establishing the carbon footprint of barley production. To do this, Alea adopted the PUMA calculator, recognised in the FSA Outcome Measurement Handbook, enabling precise greenhouse‑gas accounting across all participating farms.
The findings were decisive. Average emissions stood at 298 kg CO₂eq per tonne of barley, (compared to the global average of 600 kg CO2eq per tonne1) with 74% of total emissions linked to nitrogen fertilisation. The data also revealed significant variation in Nitrogen Use Efficiency among producers, highlighting both challenges and opportunities. Switching to lower‑impact fertilisers reduced emissions by as much as one‑third, demonstrating the value of targeted interventions. Yield performance also stood out: an average of 4,343 kg/ha compared to the global average of 3,799 kg/ha1, reinforcing that sustainability and productivity can go hand in hand.
Alea responded by reinforcing four improvement priorities: optimising fertiliser selection and dosage, expanding systematic soil analysis, calibrating equipment for precision application, and favouring inputs with lower environmental impact. Training and technical support were made available to farmers at no cost, ensuring the group could adopt these practices consistently. This approach was critical because it tackled the main source of emissions—nitrogen fertilisation—while improving efficiency and reducing waste.
“I walk on the same soil my father did, and one day my great-grandchildren will too. That’s why sustainability is always on my mind. Alea’s sustainability approach using the FSA gave us a clear pathway to organise all the ideas we already had. Going through the verification process brought order to our fields, homes, work, and tools. What initially seemed a complicated journey, we soon realised was just a series of small steps that make a big difference in improving our agricultural practices.“
Sergio Tumini, 3rd generation barley producer, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina
For producers the shift was experienced as a positive transformation rather than burdensome. The verification process helped bring order, clarity and coherence to daily operations, turning sustainability into a shared, practical discipline. The initiative has also strengthened data‑driven decision‑making across the management group, fostering a culture in which emissions reduction and efficiency gains work hand in hand.
Looking ahead, Alea plans to extend carbon‑footprint measurement and mitigation practices to other regions and crops. With continued collaboration alongside SAI Platform and industry partners, the company aims to accelerate the adoption of climate‑smart agriculture across Argentina — one incremental improvement, and one hectare, at a time.