Carbon capture is a hot topic right now in agriculture and some farmers are trying to cash in on this new revenue stream. The Corteva Carbon Initiative is a simple and flexible program that generates premium carbon credits that pay farmers for new stewardship outcomes they generate.
Ben Gordon, Carbon and Ecosystem Services Portfolio Leader at Corteva says, “So, simply put, we find buyers who are looking to drive new practice changes such as moves to no-till, strip till, or cover cropping. The farmer is doing the real work in changing those practices and we make it easy for them to get paid by using our software tool, Granular Insights, to easily collect their data, and that data is used to generate credits from an independent third-party marketplace partner, and then we make sure that the farmers get paid, and then pass those credits along to the buyer.”
The program, which is available in Indiana, allows farmers to earn an estimated $5-$20/acre/year by introducing cover crops and/or reducing tillage on acres this growing season.
“The difficulty is that there are a lot of programs out there and there’s a lot of complexity. So, for us, we really wanted to bring in a couple of pieces to help with that. So, the first is flexibility. We give farmers an opt out at two years and they can go to a different seller within that the ESMC marketplace that we’re partnered with so that way farmers can feel, ‘Hey- Corteva’s got to live up to their end of the promise.’ And then that support and simplicity. Easy tool to use to go generate those credits, you have a dedicated field team, or you can use your existing Corteva retail or Pioneer representative to help you out,” says Gordon.
You can learn more at corteva.com/carbon or you can contact your local Corteva or Pioneer representative to sign up.