Gaining maximum value from soil carbon for farmers
Regenerate Outcomes is committed to maximising value for farmers by building soil health.
As well as improving crop and livestock performance, reducing inputs, cutting costs and growing profits, this value also comes from providing high integrity soil carbon baselining and measurement.
The more robust the baselining and measurement process, the higher the value of the carbon credits you can generate.
This is why we work with Agricarbon, who combine thorough physical soil sampling with state-of-the-art laboratory analysis to meet the internationally recognised Verified Carbon Standard.
We caught up with Jessica Frewin, senior business development lead at Agricarbon, to find out more about their approach.
Accuracy by design
Before beginning the process of sampling, Agricarbon complete a thorough project design to decide where to take soil cores on each farm.
As well as using scientific expertise, Agricarbon have built up their own extensive pool of internal data, which allows them to design the project in a way which increases the accuracy of the final results.
Taking soil cores
Once the locations for the cores have been decided, Agricarbon operatives will take samples down to a depth of up to one metre.
Importantly, these samples are tagged and analysed separately to give a wider range of data and let you know what is happening on different parts of your farm.
Agricarbon taking soil cores on a farm in Wales.
“Analysing distinct depth sections is really beneficial because it improves the analysis by giving you more data,” says Jessica.
“It also tells a much more detailed story about what's happening in your soil, because you'll get a separate result for each section in the soil profile.
“Having individual analysis of samples within a core gives you a wealth of information which helps to inform you to make better decisions on what happens on the farm.”
Elemental analysis
Soil cores are then sent to Agricarbon’s industrial scale robotic processing lab in Dundee.
The level of automation at the lab enables Agricarbon to gather and analyse enough samples to generate reliable baselines and measurements, as well as reducing the margin of error.
“That’s one of the reasons why landowners and supply chains can be really confident in the work that we do because it’s compliant with the most stringent, most prescriptive protocols we have for measuring soil carbon.”
Jessica says Agricarbon’s process of elemental analysis follows the most stringent international standards for verifying carbon credits, including the VM0042: Methodology for Improved Agricultural Land Management, followed by Regenerate Outcomes.
Agricarbon is also accredited with International Standard ISO/IEC 17025:2017 for soil organic matter percentage using elemental analysis by dry combustion and bulk density.
“That's one of the reasons why landowners and supply chains can be really confident in the work that we do because it's compliant with the most stringent, most prescriptive protocols we have for measuring soil carbon,” Jessica says.
Traceability
Transparency and data integrity is a core tenet of Agricarbon’s process. Each core can be traced back to its location of origin once the results of the analysis have been produced.
“That's really important because it means once the end user receives their report, if there's any issues or queries, we can trace that right back to the field and the operator where that core was taken,” Jessica says.
“The project design, the analysis and how we document and record our data all comes together to create a really robust process.”
High value carbon credits for Regenerate Outcomes members
Jessica says the reliability of the process can help attract a higher price for carbon credits which are verified to a rigorous standard.
Projects are required to report uncertainty around soil carbon stocks and soil carbon removals. Uncertainty can be introduced at every stage, from sample design to sampling and lab analysis. High uncertainty undermines credibility and reduces the volume of carbon removals that can be claimed.
“More accurate results enhance financial returns by maximising the credits a project can claim.”
“What Agricarbon is aiming to do by becoming more accurate, more repeatable and more robust, is reduce the uncertainty around the carbon stocks that you are reporting,” says Jessica.
“More accurate results enhance financial returns by maximising the credits a project can claim and by giving buyers confidence that the credits they purchase give a true reflection of carbon dioxide being removed from the atmosphere.”
Register for your spring baseline
with Regenerate Outcomes
Regenerate Outcomes baseline and measure soil carbon at no upfront cost to generate carbon credits which you can retain or sell for additional income.
The deadline for securing your spring baseline is approaching on 7th November.