Several global companies have committed to supporting farmers in the United States through agricultural carbon credits.

Indigo Agriculture, a U.S.-based agricultural technology company, announced that it had secured commitments from companies like JPMorgan Chase, IBM, Barclays, Boston Consulting Group, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, and New Belgium Brewing for creating financial incentives for farmers through carbon credits.

This represents a major milestone in the global effort to leverage agriculture as a climate solution by creating financial incentives for farming carbon to enhance agriculture. Carbon farming loosely refers to agricultural methods aimed at sequestering atmospheric carbon into the soil. This helps increase soil’s carbon content and can aid plant growth, increase soil organic matter, improve soil water retention, among other benefits. These global companies have committed to buying carbon credits at $20/ton of carbon dioxide equivalent abated in the 2020 growing season.

“Every pound of green in a field comes from about a pound of carbon dioxide that plants pulled out of the sky. By farming in ways that store this carbon in the soil, growers have the potential to add a new source of revenue, improve their land, and help our environment,” said Geoffrey von Maltzahn, co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer at Indigo Ag. “The support demonstrated by these leading brands is a testament to agriculture’s power as a technology to help our climate.”

To avoid the devastating effects of climate change, companies have started committing to net-zero carbon pledges and leveraging the private sector’s financing, technology, and innovation. Agriculture, often seen as a major contributor to climate change, is a critical and under-leveraged part of the climate solution.

“Indigo is committed to ensuring that farmers are equipped with tools and solutions they need to improve the economic and environmental resiliency of their operations. This comes through building demand for verified agricultural carbon credits, which present a new revenue stream for farmers, as well as providing innovative digital and microbial technologies to grow more sustainable food and fiber,” said Ron Hovsepian, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Indigo.

These participating companies are among the first to leverage verified agricultural carbon credits as a meaningful part of their sustainability strategies, many of which include commitments to becoming net zero. Representing leading brands across diverse sectors including financial services (Barclays, JPMorgan Chase), food and beverage (Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, New Belgium Brewing), technology (Givewith, IBM, Shopify), and professional services (Boston Consulting Group), the group demonstrates private sector momentum for immediate and measurable solutions to climate change.

Financial institutions like Barclays and JPMorgan have announced their plans to stop lending to polluting coal-fired projects.

“With input from leading farmers, scientists, environmental NGOs, and others, the methodologies from the Climate Action Reserve and Verra will lay the foundation for robust agricultural carbon financing,” said Ed Smith, Vice President of Indigo Carbon.

Harsh Shukla is a staff reporter at Mercom India. Previously with Indian Express, he has covered general interest stories. He holds a Masters Degree in Journalism from Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication, Pune.

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