Indigo’s Carbon Milestone: 20,000 Credits Verified and Sold
Via 175 participating farmers, Indigo announces its Carbon by Indigo program has generated, verified and sold 20,000 credits to 17 buyers.
The company says this is “the world’s first crop of verified carbon credits generated at scale, to be issued by the Climate Action Reserve to Carbon by Indigo.”
Carbon by Indigo requires farmers to adopt new soil health practices such as cover crops and no-till, the subsequent carbon levels are measured via a hybrid approach that combines soil sampling and modeling, and then credits are verified by a third-party.
Dawn of A New Harvest
Indigo CEO Ron Hovsepian says, “When a farmer joins the program, like Carbon by Indigo, they can confidently expect to improve their farm, improve their profitability and improve the planet. As we started our journey, we've watched the price double in the last two years. We've now arrived at $40 a credit is what they're buying. And there's so much more demand behind. We're very excited about what that means for the farmers.”
As an example, Christopher Lehe, a farmer from Crookston, Indiana, says his participation in the program provided a good return on investment for the practice change and time required.
“We earned $25,000 for essentially a few hours in the office for data entry. That's a pretty good ROI for all my time,” he says. “It's a great way to increase or introduce a new revenue stream to the farm. We haven't gone no-till over our entire operation–it's not without its challenges. But as we continue to no-till on certain acres and continue to see the improvements in the soil, it's definitely something that we will consider to expand.”
With his experience, Lehe has built trust in the carbon marketplace as a valuable tool and even a stable resource.
“The volatility in farming nowadays is very extreme. So it's just a great opportunity for farmers to generate some additional income and potentially increase soil health, and hopefully yields,” he says.
Where Is This Heading?
Indigo cites industry numbers reporting agriculture has produced less than 1% of voluntary carbon credits historically.
“For the first time, we've been able to use science and technology to measure and verify an unprecedented commercial scale,” Hovsepian says. “This achievement allows us to have a new benchmark to support the development of credits. Soil is the largest carbon sink that we have on the planet. And by adopting the regenerative practices, the sustainable agricultural practices farmers can capture in soil is in our estimate over 5 billion tons by 2030. This is our first crop. And it really is just the beginning of what we're starting.”
Indigo says it will announce its second credit issuance early next year. Currently, Indigo by Carbon has 2,000 farmers who have enrolled almost 5 million acres.
Buyers for the first round of credits sold included JP Morgan Chase, Blue Bottle Coffee, and New Belgium Brewing.
“U.S. buyers want to support U.S. projects,” says Jodi Manning, Director of Marketing and Partnerships for Cool Effect. “That's ultimately one of the questions that I answer every single day. And now that Indigo has brought this methodology to market and we have this as an option, we finally have something that's so scientifically sound we will be able to represent this.”
