Sale of AgriCarbon’s first tranche of soil carbon credits

Sale of AgriCarbon’s first tranche of soil carbon credits

Climate Neutral Group is pleased to announce the sale of the first tranche of soil carbon credits from our AgriCarbonTM programme with issuance by the Verra Carbon Standard over the next few months. The buyer, a soon-to-be-named multi-national company, has purchased these removal carbon credits to support their global decarbonisation strategy. 

This first issuance, 182 909 tonnes of soil carbon credits, was generated by 29 South African dairy farmers, across 173 agricultural fields.  Each farmer will receive an initial payment of $11.55 (approx. R200) per carbon credit which is above the projected price of $10 for this initial issuance. The average value to be paid out to each farmer is estimated at just under R1 million. These farmers will also be eligible for the next rounds of sales through AgriCarbon and will qualify for a 5% loyalty bonus if they remain in the programme for a full five-year cycle. This equates to a total value of over R43 million paid out to farmers under AgriCarbon’s first issuance.  

“At these payment rates for the carbon credits, farmers are able to finance the capital investment required for transitioning to regenerative farming by, for example, funding new machinery or to mitigate short -term yield losses. We are grateful to this early-stage buyer for supporting AgriCarbon and thereby facilitating the transition to more sustainable farming in South Africa,” Gray Maguire, AgriCarbon Programme Lead.

 

 

AgriCarbon first sign-up window submitted for registration with Verra

AgriCarbon first sign-up window submitted for registration with Verra

In 2021, 29 dairy farmers from the Eastern Cape and KZN, some 18,788 hectares, enrolled into the first window of the AgriCarbonTM programme. This was facilitated through our partnerships with leading agricultural sustainability organisations Trace & Save and Intelact.  

These pioneering farmers were eligible for the programme as they had shifted to more sustainable farming practices such as reduced soil tillage and planting of cover crops over the last few years. In addition, all the required soil samples and farming data was provided to CNG in order to model and calculate the amount of carbon sequestered. This first enrollment window is expected to produce 182,909 tons CO2e in soil carbon credits. 

Mark Rubin, Lancewood farm owner and one of the first AgriCarbon farmers, says “We’ve always believed the soil is king and the better you work with nature and the better you work with the soil, you’ll get returns from that.” Lancewood has more than halved its nitrogen use per hectare per year since 2018 – according to research consultancy, Trace & Save.  

After an extensive and thorough auditing process conducted over the past 13 months by independent and highly rated carbon auditors, SCS Global, we are pleased to announce that the project has successfully completed validation and verification and has been submitted to Verra for registration.  

Only once the project has been successfully registered with Verra, can the carbon credits be issued. Since CNG opted to conduct a combined validation and verification process, this means that the carbon credits will be issued very shortly after registration of the project with Verra, shortening the time to issuance and payout of the carbon by at least a year. This registration and issuance process is expected to take at least 3 months, depending on the turnaround time at Verra.   

Including multiple farms under AgriCarbon substantially reduces carbon development and auditing costs per farm, thereby maximising income to farmers. By joining AgriCarbon, farmers avoid the complexity and high-cost barriers of certifying carbon credits themselves, allowing them to focus on the health of their soil and business.  

 

Africa Agri Tech Conference 2023

Africa Agri Tech Conference 2023

By Siviwe Malongweni

 

AgriCarbon Research Specialist, Siviwe Malongweni attended the Africa Agri Tech Conference in Pretoria earlier this month.

According to Siviwe, the conference kick started with a point of discussion aligns with the purpose of our AgriCarbon programme, “Farming isn’t a battle against nature, but a partnership with it. It is respecting the basics of nature in action and ensuring that they continue.”

 

 

Day 2’s presentation by Tom Puddy  on “Technologies for reducing GHG emissions from beef and dairy cattle” proved to be the conference highlight.

“It’s a known fact that methane emission from enteric fermentation of ruminants is a significant contributor to GHG emissions and a major concern for global warming. However, seaweed could be a mitigation strategy because it is rich in bromoform which effectively inhibits the production of methane in the cows rumen,” said Siviwe.

According to Tom Puddy, bromoform can be extracted from seaweed and utilised as a feed additive to reduce livestock methane emissions by up to 90%. In his study he uses canola oil to extract bromoform from seaweed and injects it in animal feed. This results in 20% productivity gain.

“South African regenerative farmers who signed up for the  Climate Neutral Group South Africa  AgriCarbon programme practice holistic planned grazing. This regenerative agricultural practice enables farmers to sequester enormous amounts of carbon in the soil (and at a profit) whilst promoting biodiverse landscapes. I personally think it would be quite interesting to see if AgriCarbon farmers would be willing to give seaweed a try,” she said

 

 

Landbouweekblad Regenerative Agriculture Conferences 2023

Landbouweekblad Regenerative Agriculture Conferences 2023

By Dr. Stephano Haarhoff

 

It was once again time for the popular Landbouweekblad Regenerative Agriculture conferences in Reitz and Ottosdal. As always, the main theme was to provide farmers with new soil, crop and livestock management approaches, enabling them to transform their current grain and mixed crop-livestock farming systems to be more climate-smart and economically sustainable over the long-term. This theme aligns with Climate Neutral Group’s (CNG) AgriCarbon programme, which rewards farmers for adopting regenerative agriculture practices and building soil health.

The main message from the local and international guest speakers was to focus on profit rather than yield. Yield-driven farming systems generally require costly external inputs exposing the farmer to high economic losses if poor weather conditions occur. According to Rick Clark, a successful Regenerative Agriculture farmer from the USA, using soil biology to build soil health is the basis for a successful farming-for-profit approach. Other big drivers are the inclusion of livestock and crop diversification to improve nutrient cycling and increase soil carbon stocks.

Presentations were complimented by field station visits to see how cover cropping and ultra-high density grazing practices work in practice. Compaction challenges and imbalanced pH levels were discussed, and how farmers can tackle them throughout the transition from conventional to regenerative practices.

The message from these conferences was clear. Farming systems should be designed to be  flexible so that they can change according to environmental changes, farming system needs and soil/water status. This is critical for South African farmers who are constantly battling unpredictable rainfall patterns and temperatures.

As a significant role player in driving the uptake of Regenerative Agriculture, the AgriCarbon programme aligns itself with farmers to help them meet their challenges. The AgriCarbon team provides professional guidance for farmers on carbon credits and associated farming practices, thereby promoting a shift towards the sustainable food production practices. The AgriCarbon team was happy to be represented at the conferences by programme agronomist, Dr Stephano Haarhoff, who has specialised in regenerative row crop production systems. His previous work on no-tillage and conservation agriculture systems has provided him with insights regarding the benefits and challenges associated with Regenerative Agriculture. Dr Haarhoff plays a vital role in supporting farmers in their transition from conventional to Regenerative Agriculture. At the two events he was able to network and discuss Regenerative Agriculture with farmers and other industry role-players and in return incorporate the useful information to build the programme’s understanding of the day to day challenges our farmers face.

The willingness of the farmers to adopt new knowledge and overcome challenges was exciting to witness. Our farmers are driven to guarantee food security using sustainable farming systems: healthy soils ensure healthy South Africans.

 

Regenerative Agriculture: benefits and challenges

Regenerative Agriculture: benefits and challenges

by Dr. Stephano Haarhoff

 

Rainfed and irrigated cropping systems face the challenge of adapting to a hotter and drier climate across the South African agricultural sector. Seasons between the drier cycles may be very wet, offering different challenges. Regenerative Agriculture (RA) can be implemented as an adaptive approach to build climate-smart farming systems that are more resilient against erratic rainfall patterns and address soil health concerns while conserving the environment.

Regenerative Agriculture principles, which include crop diversification, maintenance of organic soil cover by plants or mulch, no- to-minimum soil disturbance and livestock integration, are aimed at improving biodiversity (below and above ground), water use efficiency and improved yields. The effects of climate change are detrimental on farm-level, with its impact transferred along the food chain to consumers in cities through food price fluctuations.

Farming in alignment with nature’s principles enables cropping systems to utilise available nutrient and water resources more efficiently. For example, a good soil cover provided by crop residues or a mulch lowers soil water evaporation losses. In addition, more optimal soil temperatures are maintained, providing an environment for soil organisms to offer their ecological functions and promote crop root growth and nutrient uptake. Shade cast by the soil cover prevents direct sunlight from reaching the soil surface, limiting weed seed germination and growth during the growing season. Competition for soil resources and sunlight is limited and can be utilised by crops for fruit or grain production.

Diversifying cropping systems using different cash crops in rotation, cover crops or intercropping enables farmers to attract and sustain diverse communities of soil microbes (bacteria, fungi, nematodes, earthworms) and insects. Soil microbes provide carbon and nutrient cycling functions, and various insect species provide improved pollination and the predation of unwanted pests in crop fields. Greater soil carbon sequestration is possible by maintaining crop diversification in conjunction with no- or minimum-tillage. Implementing no- or minimum-tillage is critical to maximising benefits by promoting soil aggregate formation and preventing carbon release from soils. Soil with increased organic matter content can store greater volumes of water and is more resistant to excessive nutrient leaching as well as compaction issues. Livestock integration helps reduce high carbon-to-nitrogen ratios in the soil-crop systems and promotes nutrient cycling by depositing nutrients back onto the soil to help feed the soil biology and crops.

Maintaining sufficient above- and below ground biomass production can be challenging, especially across the Western Free State, North West Province and Swartland (Western Cape) crop production regions. Inconsistent rainfall patterns and high temperatures limits crop yields and biomass available as soil cover or livestock feed. Additionally, soils prone to compaction, degradation and unbalanced chemical compositions (nutrient levels and pH) result in lower productivity and increase the need for strategic tillage actions and inorganic fertilisers. Intensive management and planning such as controlled machinery traffic, limited grazing periods to limit cattle-induced compaction, and optimal fertiliser application strategies are required to avoid soil mining, over-fertilising and leaching losses.

CNG and its partners in the agricultural sector are committed to demonstrating to farmers that the economic and environmental benefits associated with RA outweigh the challenges faced with implementation. As inconsistent weather patterns persist and external input costs continue to rise, we are seeing interest in RA among South African farmers increasing with a particular interest in soil health concepts and greater water use efficiency. We believe Regenerative Agriculture should be viewed as an adaptive soil and crop management approach, where each farming system’s associated challenges and trade-offs are unique. Following this approach will promote long-term sustainability both on the farm and at an industry level.

 

A conceptual framework illustrating the effects of Regenerative Agriculture practices on the soil ecosystem functionality and water resources. Sources: Elana Harley (www.elabarts.com); Acevedo et al. (2022).

Label 1 (Increase infiltration): A good soil cover lowers water evaporation losses and soil degradation.

Label 2 (Reduce Evaporation) and Label 3 (Increase soil water storage): Crop diversification by intercropping and cover crops.

Reference:

Acevedo, S.E., Waterhouse, H., Barrios-Masias, F., Dierks, J., Renwick, L.L. and Bowles, T.M., 2022. How does building healthy soils impact sustainable use of water resources in irrigated agriculture?. Elem Sci Anth, 10(1), p.00043.

The Hidden World of Soil

The Hidden World of Soil

By Siviwe Malongweni

 

The AgriCarbonTM Research team plays a vital role in building CNG’s impact outcomes and programmatic scientific rigour. One of these functions is gathering data to aid the Data and Carbon Development teams to improve their decision-making capacity as to how Improved Agricultural Land Management (IALM) practices such as crop-rotation, reduced fertilizer-use, and minimum tillage influence carbon pools within various agricultural sectors and regions. This requires reviewing empirical agricultural studies that assess the efficiency of regenerative agricultural practices on soil organic carbon sequestration to outline the primary drivers of carbon cycling on cropland and pastures.

 

 

Figure 1. A simplified representation of the carbon cycle from agricultural land and carbon returns from crop residues and manure (Herzfeld et al. 2021)

 

The diagram above shows carbon cycling from agricultural land and productivity feedbacks between plants and the soil. It shows how carbon stored in the plant body returns into the soil during the decomposition of crop residues. The returns are proportional to the size of the plant. For every crop variety that the AgriCarbon team includes in our soil carbon programme the AgriCarbon Research team must build a database of crop residue inputs as root and shoot biomass default factors presented in across the spectrum of agricultural literature.

Another central component of monitoring our farmers impact is that of soil sampling. The AgriCarbon Research team has developed a soil sampling guide following a stratified random sampling approach that involves dividing sampling sites into homogenous sections (in terms of soil type, climate, and land-use types). There is no scientific doubt that South Africa is highly variable in terms of climate and soil (Figure 2 and 3). The country experiences rainfall that varies significantly from west to east. The north-western regions are very dry, with some areas receiving as little as 200 mm of annual rainfall, whereas much of the eastern highveld occasionally receive rainfall exceeding 1400 mm per year.

 

 

Figure 2. Koppen-Gieger’s climate classification of South Africa representing different climatic regions across the country (Adesina et al. 2015).

 

Due to this large contrast between moist and dry regions, the country also has large differences in parent material. A parent material is a mineral rock in which a soil develops through the process of weathering and natural erosion. The Northern region is dominated by some of the oldest geological formations on the planet. We also have very young (newly developed) soils in certain parts of the country. This has led to the classification of 12 broad soil type categories in South Africa (Figure 3) and our strata have been classified according to these different types. Lastly, strata have been classified according to whether ploughing is an essential part of farming activity.  Stratifying according to climate, soil land use class create useful classification zones through which our modelling tool can be calibrated.

 

 

Figure 3. Distribution of the soil types (groups) across South Africa. The lightest colour indicates between 1 and 7% soil distribution in the mapping unit whilst the darkest colour indicates more than 60% (Fey 2010).

 

CNG believes that the major benefit of stratified random sampling is that it most accurately reflects the key population characteristics in the sample, while reducing barriers to entry from over-sampling. Through this approach the AgriCarbon team has been able to accurately model soil organic carbon (SOC) stock changes following the adoption of IALM practices which also allows CNG to deliver a highly robust carbon modelling tool with minimized uncertainty.

 

References:

Adesina J, Kumar K.R. and Sivakumar V. 2015. Aerosol-Cloud-Precipitation Interactions over Major Cities in South Africa: Impact on Regional Environment and Climate Change. Aerosol and Air Quality Research (1):1-17.

Christina M. Botai C.M., Botai J.O., AdeolaI A.M. 2018. Spatial distribution of temporal precipitation contrasts in South Africa. South African Journal of Science, 114:7-8. https://aaqr.org/articles/aaqr-15-03-oa-0185.pdf

Fey M.V. 2010. A short guide to the soils of South Africa, their distribution and correlation with World Reference Base soil groups. World Congress of Soil Science, Soil Solutions for a Changing World, Brisbane, Australia.

Herzfeld T., Heinke J., Rolinski S. & Müller C. 2021. Soil organic carbon dynamics from agricultural management practices under climate change. European Geosciences Unions, 12(4): 1037-1055.