GROWMARK and Indigo Ag have announced a joint effort to spur participation in the growing market for agricultural carbon.
Lance Ruppert is GROWMARK?s executive director of agronomy marketing and technology. He tells IARN that under this collaboration, the GROWMARK System?s network of FS branded retailers will help farmers navigate an increasingly complex soil carbon market with the only high-quality, third-party verified credit program in operation today: Carbon by Indigo.
?We?ve kind of held back for a number of months to do our due diligence,? said Ruppert. ?We wanted to do some research to understand as best we can what these (carbon) markets entail, why they are happening, the goods and bads of how it all works and unfolds. We tried to look around and get a good glimpse of the market and its rules of the road and how this works as best we can.?
Ruppert explains why the mutual partnership was formed between the two companies.
?The heart of the matter is that it?s not much different of a business arrangement than we would have with any of the suppliers you think of off the top of your head,? said Ruppert. ?We distribute seed, fertility and crop protection products for a number of companies through GROWMARK and our FS companies that we provide to growers. This carbon program is very much similar to that.?
Upon enrollment, Indigo will leverage its advanced capabilities for measuring and verifying 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.
?Indigo brings a market,? said Ruppert. ?They are working with the registries to understand and build the protocol and the program that builds carbon in the soil, and then substantiates or calculates it, and then taking those tons potentially that a grower sequesters to a market. They have buyers.?
Ruppert adds that as demand for voluntary ag carbon credits grows into an estimated $42 billion farmer opportunity, Indigo and the GROWMARK System are working to ensure farmers maximize the long-term profitability potential of their participation.
