Cargill to connect farmers to carbon marketplace
Cargill RegenConnect is a new regenerative agriculture program that pays U.S. farmers for improved soil health and positive environmental outcomes, including payment per metric ton of carbon sequestered.
The new program is to connect farmers to the growing carbon marketplace. According to Cargill, it will help scale the voluntary adoption of regenerative agriculture practices.
Cover crops and reduced- or no-tillage
Farmers enrolled in Cargill RegenConnect will implement regenerative agriculture practices of their choosing beginning this fall into the next planting season. Practices that will qualify include cover crops and reduced- or no-tillage.
Cargill has partnered with carbon measurement firm Regrow to make it easy for farmers to Measure, Report and Verify (MRV) carbon outcomes using in-field data, remote sensing and crop and soil health modeling. The Regrow MRV platform ensures easy enrollment, secure data collection and provides farmers with transparent measurement and verification options.
Better soil health increases income
In a study of 100 U.S. farmers across nine states conducted by The Soil Health Institute and supported by Cargill, researchers found that soil health management systems increased incomes for 85 percent of farmers growing corn and 88 percent of farmers growing soybeans. The average income for corn growers increased by $ 52 per acre and $ 45 per acre for soybeans. Additionally, farmers reported reduced average costs to grow corn by $ 24 per acre and soybeans by $ 17 per acre.
