Aug 11, 2021
GROWMARK, Indigo offer new carbon farming opportunity
GROWMARK, a farmer-owned cooperative, and ag-tech company Indigo Ag, a company leveraging nature and technology to unlock economic and environmental progress in agriculture, Aug. 10 debuted a new opportunity for carbon farming.
GROWMARK System’s network of FS branded retailers will help farmers navigate an increasingly complex soil carbon market and confidently get started on their carbon farming journey with the only high-quality, third-party verified credit program in operation today: Carbon by Indigo.
The GROWMARK System and Indigo together will provide farmer-owners with the end-to-end support necessary to succeed in the agricultural carbon opportunity, according to a news release from the two companies. Participating FS retailers will help farmers evaluate and enroll in Carbon by Indigo and implement beneficial farming practices proven to sequester carbon and abate greenhouse gas emissions. As growers enroll, Indigo will measure and verify on-farm environmental impact at scale to translate the effects of farmers’ efforts into a new source of revenue, in the form of premium carbon credits.
“The opportunity for farmers to benefit from public demand for high-quality carbon credits is tremendous,” said Mark Orr, vice president agronomy, GROWMARK. “We’re proud to work with Indigo to provide our farmer partners with a simple and informed path to generate maximum revenue for their efforts.”
The two companies are joined in a mutual effort to ensure farmers are equipped with informed guidance as they contemplate participating in the carbon market and, if they do choose to enroll, are supported with the resources and knowledge to maximize their agronomic, environmental, and financial success, the companies said in the news release.
“FS retailers in the GROWMARK System are proven industry leaders in offering trusted expertise to help farmers interpret and simplify the complexities of modern agriculture, and they do so over a broad geographical footprint,” said Chris Harbourt, Global Head of Carbon at Indigo Ag. He hopes the joint effort will advance “farmers’ understanding of the fast-growing carbon farming landscape and support the development of the market to adequately reflect the value of farmers’ environmental contributions.”
As demand for voluntary ag carbon credits grows into an estimated $42 billion farmer opportunity, the two companies hope to ensure farmers maximize the long-term profitability potential of their participation, according to the news release.
Carbon by Indigo’s work to generate premium credits has in turn cultivated a network of premium credit buyers (including global brands like JPMorgan Chase, Ralph Lauren Corporation, The North Face, and Barclays) and resulted in a 35% increase in the price of Carbon by Indigo credits over the last year, according to the news release.
