Little Rock nonprofit aims to standardize climate benefits for farmers - Axios NW ArkansasLog InLog InAxios NW Arkansas is an Axios company.

Little Rock nonprofit aims to standardize climate benefits for farmers

Illustration: Lazaro Gamio/Axios Farmers may soon have a way to get paid out of thin air, or rather what they don't put into thin air. What's happening: Little Rock nonprofit will lead a $20 million pilot project to develop a standardized climate-impact reporting platform for farmers.It'll be tested through suppliers to Arkansas' and the of Montana. The platform is one of 70 climate-smart projects valued at $2.8 billion last week. Why it matters: It's estimated that agriculture of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., or about . While farmers have been adopting more climate-friendly practices in recent years, they lack a standard mechanism to record and capitalize their good works, Winrock's Mary Grady told Axios. How it works: Grady leads Winrock's , the first private voluntary greenhouse gas (GHG) registry. The new online registry will use standardized USDA data so when a farmer reports planting a cover crop on 50 acres, they'll get the same credit as a peer down the road. Credits will accumulate into GHG certificates that can be issued and tracked. A farmer will be able to sell those — much like a — or they can package certificates with their commodity when sold, effectively giving the buyer and the buyer's buyer — Tyson Foods or Walmart, for example — credit that can be applied to corporate emissions goals. What they're saying: "Our objective is to reduce the cost burden on farmers to adopt a wide variety of climate-smart practices and to streamline the verification of climate results," Grady said in a news release. "The project will demonstrate how markets can deliver value directly to farmers by putting them in the driver’s seat," Grady added. Get more local stories in your inbox with .Subscribe Support local journalism by becoming a member.

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