Truterra, the sustainability business unit of Land O’ Lakes, has launched a pilot program through the 2022 growing season with Nori, a startup with blockchain technology for a carbon removal marketplace.
The goal of the pilot is to explore the scalability of an ecosystem services marketplace and provide farmers a view for what they could gain in a carbon market.
In working with their retailer using the Truterra Insights Engine, farmers can explore the possible scenarios and ROI of the conservation practices leading to the credits. Nori says that currently via its marketplace, farmers can be paid up to $15 per tonne of carbon sequestered in the soil.
In speaking about how the partnership developed, Jason Weller, Vice President of Truterra, says, “We were impressed by their passion and farmer focused approach. They are in this to ultimately to help farmers be part of the solution.”
Weller says there are two important notes about this pilot—farmers continue to be owners of their own data, and it’s this type of program that will launch a new revenue stream for farmers.
“We want farmers to be compensated so they can be paid for the additional benefits they create on the farm—not just the grain, dairy and output but also the clean air, higher quality soils, and cleaner water,” Weller says. “So we are on a path to unlock the additional incentives and marketing opportunities to create new classes of commodities.”
Aldyen Donnelly, who is the Director of Carbon Economics at Nori, says this pilot is helping engage a large group of key stakeholders for their marketplace.
“We believe strongly that food and fiber producers are the first priority,” Donnelly says.
Nori is structured in a way to engage stakeholders of every scale in an equal way and without requiring a broker.
“In other markets, farmers may get $1.50 or $4 max, but in our market we are able to pay $15 to $17 per tonne,” Donnelly says and adds the Nori market is designed to issue a payment every 10 years and data is third-party verified every three years.
While carbon markets require data and measurement, farmers who are using the Truterra Insights Engine already have most of the data and record keeping necessary to get started in the Nori marketplace—Weller says 90% of what’s needed.
And Donnelly explains Nori is ready to help farmers with any assistance they need to understand the data requirements.
