Field Trials – Getting into the carbon market | Part 1

Changing growing practices to sequester more carbon might sound simple in theory. It’s often more complicated in practice, though, and potentially quite expensive.

This reality is a major barrier to farmer participation in emerging carbon markets – but it’s far from the only problem. Low per-ton carbon pricing, stipulations which differ based on what government or company is operating the market in question, and other factors are all at play.

In this episode of Field Trials, Robin Saluoks, founder of eAgronom, discusses the difficulties of carbon market participation, and what can help growers and agribusinesses overcome them. Among other efforts, his company uses digital tools and carbon sequestration models to enable more predictable market participation. He also addresses common misconceptions amongst would-be participants.

“A common misunderstanding, at least in Europe, is at first some farmers thought this was going to be like a second yield in a year. Unfortunately, today, that’s not the case. It’s more like health insurance for your soil, so it helps to cover costs going to improve your soil quality and soil organic carbon levels,” says Saluoks.

The financial benefits actually come from having better soil. There won’t be much of the profit from the carbon program itself, like cash flow. The cost for say cover cropping or implementing some new practice would be quite similar as income from the carbon.

Want to know more? Listen to part 1 of the interview below and make sure to visit our Youtube channel for more Field Trials content.