For most grocery shoppers, the name Land O’Lakes is synonymous with dairy. But behind the scenes, the 102-year-old cooperative—which counts nearly 3,000 agricultural retailers and producers among its owner-members—offers a slew of products and services aimed at helping farmers improve their crop yields, plant health, and soil quality. This mission is especially important as climate change forces farmers to adapt to lower rainfall and higher temperatures, in addition to simply improving the nutrition of their feedstock. “Not every acre is created equal,” says Land O’Lakes COO Brett Bruggeman. The company is focused on answering the question “How do we help stretch that acre to get the most out of it?”

Through its animal feed business, sustainable farming division Truterra, and the WinField United “crop inputs” arm, Land O’Lakes is working on advancing agricultural science in ways that are high-tech and hands-on.

Crop inputs—which includes seeds, plant nutrients, and such protection solutions as pesticides and herbicides—doubled its earnings between 2020 and 2022, from $150 million to $308 million. As Land O’Lakes posted losses in dairy in 2022, WinField United helped buoy the company.

Land O’Lakes has fertilized this growth by pouring $10 million a year since 2017 into WinField United’s Innovation Center, based in River Falls, Wisconsin, where researchers look for new ways to protect crops and increase their yields. In nearby Wanamingo, Minnesota, at one of the roughly 100 farm plots the company maintains to deliver localized insights to farmers, staff evaluate these innovations in a variety of conditions.

Fast Company visited the sites to see what agriculture’s present and future look like.