Eco-Harvest by Ecosystem Services Market Consortium

Eco-Harvest market program rewards farmers for regenerative agricultural practices. An outcome-based program, Eco-Harvest generates credits for carbon, reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, and improvements in water quality.

About the program:

• Five-year contracts, with ability to reenroll three times
• Pays minimum $15 per ton of carbon
• Rules and standards that make sense for agriculture
• Variety of programs, with differing eligibility criteria
• Tied to standards of the program and what can be quantified
• Third-party digitized verification

Program Differentiators

Instead of working in traditional carbon offset markets, ESMC's Eco-Harvest has created a market mechanism for Scope 3 supply chain credits for food and beverage corporations.

"The difference there is that food and beverage companies have made commitments that they need to meet within their agricultural supply chains," says Debbie Reed, executive director for ESMC. "Our accredited program provides Scope 3 'credits' from within their supply chains that are science-based, standards-based, and independently verified."

ESMC operates as a nonprofit; coupled with its advanced digital system this means Eco-Harvest program costs to generate credits are minimal to maximize payments to farmers.

Carbon Farmer

"It was a pilot program, so it was a one-year commitment," says Ben Mergen who farms 500 acres of corn and soybeans with a small beef herd in Stearns County, Minnesota. "They offered to come help with the data input and to get everything set up, drawing the field borders. They are knowledgeable and can answer questions.

"Those were all the things that seemed like a nice fit and a good start, and some way to learn a little more about the carbon markets," adds Mergen who started with conservation tillage and cover crops.

By the Numbers

Scope 3 emissions allow multiple companies to share the same credit, opening opportunities for further dividends to be paid to producers.

"We have created a system that allows multiple companies to invest and divide the costs of the [credit] payments, allowing ESMC to stack on additional money. So we pay them upfront, but then they can get ongoing dividends if that credit is resold," Reed says.