Should Your Farm Sign a Carbon Contract?

While farmers are currently preoccupied with fertilizer supplies, commodity prices and tariff issues, the impacts from climate change to agriculture have not disappeared. There are still a number of programs available to farmers to help improve soil health, mitigate greenhouse gases, reduce emissions, and sequester carbon. To date, farmer uptake of these programs has been very slow, in spite of the promise to pay farmers for participation. I believe a lot of the reluctance stems from the uncertainty about these programs. To address these concerns, the Ag Data Transparent (ADT) organization has developed a new tool help answer farmers’ questions about carbon programs—Ag Carbon Transparent.

In 2025, the ADT established a committee with the National Corn Growers Association, farmers, and industry representatives to develop a set of core principles for transparency in carbon programs. The committee spent many hours discussing the issues and concerns of farmers. The result was the development of the Transparency Principles for Carbon Markets.  The principles address the following issues:   

• Farmer Education 

• Simple Contracts 

• Ownership

• Measurement, Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MMRV)

• Transparency 

• Flexibility 

• Identity of the Provider 

• Identity of Partners 

• Payment

• Termination 

You can read these principles on the Ag Data Transparent website or click the link above. With Transparency Principles created, the ADT committee next worked to create a tool to verify that carbon program providers are acting within the bounds of the principles. The ADT developed a set of 10 questions for program providers to answer and submit for review. Once submitted, the ADT compares these answers to the contracts these providers are asking farmers to sign to ensure that they align. Here are some examples: 

• What are the environmental assets that are being measured, generated and monetized by the program? 

• Does the provider use a third party protocol/methodology to measure and verify environmental assets (MMRV)?  

• Does the contract explain how payments are calculated, what the anticipated timing for payments will be, and payment contingencies?

• Does the contract allow the provider to change requirements from one year to the next?

• Does the contract impose costs or penalties for early termination? 

The complete questionnaire can be downloaded here. Companies that answer the questions and pass the ADT’s review process are awarded the Ag Carbon Transparent seal to use on their program. Ag Carbon Transparent approved programs must also go through the Ag Data Transparent certification. Indigo Ag was the first participant with its Carbon by Indigo program.

Regenerative ag programs still have a long way to go before they are widely accepted by farmers. While there are many reasons farmers do not sign up for these programs, not understanding the offering should not be one of them. The Ag Carbon Transparent process is designed to help farmers better understand the programs available and determine whether they are good fit for their farm.

Learn more at www.agdatatransparent.com/agcarbon