As climate change garners increased attention, agriculture and agricultural practices have come to the forefront.
One topic that’s at top of mind within the industry is carbon credits.
The idea is that farmers can implement farming practices that help sequester carbon in the soil and generate carbon credits. In turn, these carbon credits can be purchased by buyers in a voluntary market that’s estimated to be worth up to $50 billion by 2030.
In late June, Indigo Ag announced the first crop of these verified carbon credits generated at scale along with buyer commitments to purchase these credits.
It developed a process for verifying carbon credits generated on the farm and marketing these carbon credits to Indigo’s network of 17 buyers. To date, nearly 2,000 farmers have enrolled almost 5 million acres in the program. Indigo worked with the Climate Action Reserve, a nonprofit organization responsible for overseeing the process, to verify and issue credits.
Successful Farming magazine sat down with Heather Gieseke, vice president of carbon commercial for Indigo Ag, to find out more.
SF: Why is Indigo’s June announcement regarding its verifiable carbon credit program significant?
HG: We developed a way to measure high-quality carbon credits that are legitimate and verifiable. These credits can be purchased from our buying network. Many people assume this is a political play, and that the market will change depending on which political party is in office. The carbon credit mar- ket is voluntary. Companies are making the choice — anticipated to be 30% of Fortune 500 companies by 2030 — to make climate impact claims, such as being carbon neutral. They’re going to have to back it up. That’s going to require reducing the carbon in their supply chain and purchasing additional carbon credits that they can use to offset.
SF: How does Indigo work with farmers regarding carbon credit opportunities?
HG: Our measurements are based on an academic model that’s fed by a significant amount of peer- reviewed research. We work with