UK farmers moving away from heavy cultivation and towards regenerative farming practices could be missing out on a new revenue stream.
Thomas Gent, Agreena’s UK market lead, said it’s not too late: “There is still time for farmers who have taken the first steps in the transition to regenerative agriculture to be financially rewarded for harvest 2023.”
With the BPS being phased out, uncertainty around the ELM schemes, rising energy costs plus an unsettled economic climate, few farmers will want to miss out on an opportunity to drive up the bottom line.
“Farmers who are already deploying regenerative farming practices, turning soil into carbon sinks, are able to access a new revenue stream from carbon farming and the sale of carbon certificates, at the same time as improving the economic and sustainability of their farm businesses.” continued Mr Gent. “In fact, farmers can simply send the form they have just completed for their BPS application to Agreena and one of our team will be able to estimate the potential revenue achievable from the sale of carbon certificates following harvest 2023.
“The enrolment process consists of choosing which fields are to be included in the AgreenaCarbon programme, and entering the relevant field data such as field location, size, fertiliser and cover crop usage, etc. After harvest farmers log into the AgreenaCarbon platform and report their actual field data around the date they have provided”
Agreena’s internationally accredited and third-party programme then quantifies the carbon removed and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and the team issues the verified carbon certificates – one certificate is equivalent to one tonne of CO2 emissions.
On average, one hectare can generate between one and two carbon certificates and the current value of a certificate is £25-50. Once issued, farmers can choose to keep their carbon certificates, sell them, or alternatively ask Agreena to sell them to verified companies on their behalf based on current market demand and prices.
Farmers can join the AgreenaCarbon programme, the deadline for harvest 2023 is June 30. Interested farmers can find out more by attending the ‘How to Enrol in a Carbon Programme from data entry to income’ webinar on Tuesday May 16 from 5:00pm-6:00pm.
The webinar is hosted by Agreena and farming co-operative Fram Farmers. For more details and to register click here
