Strong corporate demand for high-quality, verified, registry-issued credits continues to drive voluntary market growth
Indigo Ag today announced the completion of its second carbon crop, consisting of more than 110,000 agricultural carbon credits[1]. Issued by one of the world’s most trusted carbon registries, the Climate Action Reserve, Indigo’s second crop of credits was produced by U.S. farmers enrolled in its industry-leading carbon farming program, Carbon by Indigo.
“Our second crop of soil-based carbon credits signifies the enormous growth and potential for farmers to sequester more carbon in the soil while increasing their own profitability, with 75% of the credit revenue going directly back to farmers,” said Ron Hovsepian, president and CEO of Indigo Ag. “The verified credits produced by the Carbon by Indigo program represent significant and immediate environmental benefits. We are incredibly excited about the strong demand we are seeing from companies looking to high-quality offsets as part of their climate roadmaps.”
Indigo’s first carbon crop – issued in June of 2022 and consisting of more than 20,000 credits – established the company as the first to ever generate verified, registry-issued agricultural carbon credits at market scale. This second carbon crop further demonstrates the repeatability of this process, the potential for exponential growth, and the appeal to both farmers and buyers.
The program’s economic and agronomic incentives for farmers establish long term viability for the program. In fact, for the first and second carbon crops, Carbon by Indigo farmers were paid $30/credit, a 200% increase over the original guaranteed payment rate.
“The economic and agronomic benefits made joining the Carbon by Indigo program an easy decision for us,” said Kenton Carley, who grows corn and soybeans in Illinois. “Carbon by Indigo has allowed us to earn an additional revenue stream from our operation, while also improving soil health for future generations. We’re incredibly pleased to see the growth in this program.”
The second crop of credits represents more than 110,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions sequestered or abated by farmers. The credits were produced by nearly 430 farmers across 22 U.S. states, including existing and new farmers and new fields in their operations. The second carbon crop demonstrated the program’s growth and durability, as Indigo’s carbon program realized a roughly 5x credit growth from its inaugural crop.
Indigo’s growing network of global partner brands, including Blue Bottle Coffee, Shopify, Ralph Lauren and JPMorgan Chase, has committed to purchasing Indigo’s verified agricultural carbon credits in advance of this new carbon crop.
“One of the reasons we work with Indigo Ag is that their monitoring and verification protocol is of high quality in the soil carbon credit space,” said Stacy Kauk, head of sustainability at Shopify. “This gives us the reassurance we need to be a part of a soil carbon project.”
Indigo Ag is the only company producing verified, registry-issued soil carbon credits at scale, rewarding farmers for adopting sustainable farming practices that benefit the environment and their operations. The Carbon by Indigo program includes removals and abatement of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses. The credits are measured, verified and issued under the most rigorous scientific standards, making them the highest quality agricultural carbon credits available on the voluntary market.
