Carbon farming

01Overview and value chain#

Markers EC: EU Carbon Farming Initiative & CAP carbon credits | OECD: Agricultural Biotechnology | Regulator: Verra/Gold Standard voluntary standards, USDA, MoA

Carbon farming pays farmers for verified soil carbon sequestration through regenerative practices — cover crops, no-till and crop rotation. The voluntary-carbon-market shakeout hit the sector in 2024, when Nori (Seattle) halted its soil-sequestration carbon marketplace citing a stagnant voluntary market and funding headwinds. Surviving programs now scale via corporate Scope-3 supply-chain deals: Truterra (a Land O’Lakes unit) has paid farmers about $21 million for over 1 million metric tons of sequestered carbon; Agreena’s AgreenaCarbon project funds regenerative agriculture across more than 4.5 million hectares in Europe; Soil Capital runs Europe’s first certified agricultural carbon payment programme with over 1,800 farmers; and CIBO’s data and analytics platform powers Nutrien’s MRV. This article covers the credit-program and marketplace layer; the soil-carbon measurement tech is in soil carbon MRV (IND-096).

The key directions of carbon farming are:

1. Carbon-credit marketplaces & programs (Carbon-Credit Marketplaces & Programs): platforms (Truterra, Agreena, Soil Capital) paying farmers for verified soil carbon sequestration.
2. Regenerative practice adoption (Regenerative Practice Adoption): cover crops, no-till and rotation supported by CIBO and Truterra platforms for credit eligibility.
3. Corporate Scope-3 supply-chain deals (Corporate Scope-3 Supply-Chain Deals): food corporates (Nestlé with Soil Capital) buying farm credits to cut supply-chain emissions.
4. Soil-carbon science & standards (Soil-Carbon Science & Standards): long-term SOC research (Soil Health Institute) underpinning credit integrity.

Sectoral value chain#

[regen practice adoption] ──> [MRV measurement] ──> [credit issuance] ──> [marketplace / corporate sale]
                                   │
                           (pay farmers for sequestration)
                                   │
                                   ▼
[verification & standards] <─── [farmer payment] <─────┘

Value chain levels#

Cross-cutting technologies of the sector:

• Regenerative carbon practices (Regenerative Carbon Practices): cover crops, no-till and rotation that build soil organic carbon while maintaining yields.
• MRV data & analytics platforms (MRV Data & Analytics Platforms): independent data platforms (CIBO) modeling soil carbon change for credit eligibility.
• Voluntary carbon standards (Voluntary Carbon Standards): Verra and Gold Standard frameworks that verify and register soil-carbon credits.

02US#

The US carbon-farming market blends farmer-cooperative programs, MRV platforms and soil-carbon science, against the 2024 marketplace shakeout.

Truterra program, CIBO MRV, Soil Health Institute, Nori shakeout#

• Truterra: a Land O’Lakes unit that has paid farmers about $21 million for sequestering more than 1 million metric tons of carbon since launch three years ago, scaling via food-company supply-chain deals.
• CIBO Technologies: its independent data and analytics platform powers measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) for Nutrien’s sustainable agriculture programs across the Midwest (collaboration announced February 2026).
• Soil Health Institute: publishes long-term research (e.g., 19-year no-till soil-organic-carbon studies) underpinning the science of soil-carbon credit integrity.
• The shakeout: Nori halted its soil-sequestration carbon marketplace in 2024, citing a stagnant voluntary carbon market and funding headwinds — a cautionary signal for the marketplace model.

03CN#

China’s agricultural carbon-sink market is policy-led, with government pilots exploring farm-sector carbon credits.

agricultural carbon-sink pilots, policy framework, MoA#

• 农业碳汇 (agricultural carbon sink) market: industry analyses track the development potential and policy environment for China’s agricultural carbon-sink credits, driven by national carbon-neutrality goals.
• Policy framework: government pilots explore farm-sector carbon-credit generation, framed by the Ministry of Agriculture’s rural-revitalization and carbon-neutrality programs.

04EU#

Europe leads in certified carbon-payment programmes and large-scale soil-carbon projects under the EU Carbon Farming Initiative.

AgreenaCarbon, Soil Capital certified programme, EU Carbon Farming Initiative#

• Agreena (Denmark): the AgreenaCarbon project — described as the first large-scale soil carbon project — funds regenerative agriculture across more than 4.5 million hectares in Europe, generating upfront capital for thousands of farmers via carbon-credit sales.
• Soil Capital (France): runs Europe’s first certified agricultural carbon payment programme, rewarding over 1,800 farmers (France 1,413; Belgium 183; UK 274) for regenerative practices, with a Nestlé deal highlighting regen-ag’s role in corporate Scope-3 supply chains.
• EU Carbon Farming Initiative: the EU framework and CAP carbon-credit mechanisms frame the route to market for European soil-carbon credits.

05Leading companies and research institutes#

06Tech stack and innovations#

The stack pairs credit programs and MRV platforms with soil-carbon science.

1. Carbon-credit marketplaces and programs (Carbon-Credit Marketplaces & Programs):
   • Truterra has paid farmers about $21 million for over 1 million metric tons of sequestered carbon via food-company supply-chain deals.
   • Soil Capital’s certified programme rewards 1,800+ farmers across France, Belgium and the UK, with a Nestlé deal showing the corporate Scope-3 pull.
2. MRV data and analytics platforms (MRV Data & Analytics Platforms):
   • CIBO’s independent platform models soil-carbon change for credit eligibility and now powers Nutrien’s sustainable-agriculture MRV across the Midwest.
   • Agreena’s AgreenaCarbon combines MRV with upfront farmer financing across more than 4.5 million hectares.
3. Soil-carbon science and standards (Soil-Carbon Science & Standards):
   • The Soil Health Institute’s long-term research (e.g., 19-year no-till soil-organic-carbon studies) underpins credit integrity.
   • Voluntary standards (Verra, Gold Standard) and the EU Carbon Farming Initiative frame verification and registration.

07Value chains and production pipelines#

Industrial pipeline of a carbon-farming credit (Verra / Gold Standard / EU Carbon Farming Initiative)#

┌───────────────────────────┐      ┌───────────────────────────┐
│ 1. Practice adoption      │ ───> │ 2. MRV measurement        │
└───────────────────────────┘      └───────────────────────────┘
                                                  │
                                                  ▼
┌───────────────────────────┐      ┌───────────────────────────┐
│ 4. Marketplace / corp sale│ <─── │ 3. Credit issuance        │
└───────────────────────────┘      └───────────────────────────┘
               │
               ▼
┌───────────────────────────┐      ┌───────────────────────────┐
│ 5. Farmer payment         │ ───> │ 6. Verification & standards│
└───────────────────────────┘      └───────────────────────────┘

Stage 1: Practice adoption

Farmers enroll acres and adopt cover crops, no-till and rotation via a platform (CIBO, Truterra) for credit eligibility; the output is enrolled, regeneratively-managed acres.

Stage 2: MRV measurement

Soil-carbon change is measured and modeled (sampling, remote sensing, CIBO’s analytics platform); the output is a sequestration-tonnage estimate.

Stage 3: Credit issuance

Sequestration data is verified and registered as carbon credits under a standard (Verra, Gold Standard); the output is issued soil-carbon credits.

Stage 4: Marketplace / corporate sale

Credits are sold via a marketplace or — increasingly — direct corporate Scope-3 deals (Soil Capital–Nestlé, Truterra–food companies); the output is credit sales.

Stage 5: Farmer payment

Farmers receive their share of credit revenue (Truterra’s ~$21 million paid to date); the output is farmer payout and retention.

Stage 6: Verification & standards

Credit integrity is audited against voluntary standards and the EU Carbon Farming Initiative, with Soil Health Institute science underpinning the measurement basis; the output is verified, standardized credits.