COLUMBUS, Ohio – Agriculture may now have another solution to positively impact climate change thanks to an  initiative launched this summer by Bayer, the latest in the company’s sustainability commitments specifically aimed at reducing Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission by 30 percent in 2030.

Although an exact split hasn’t been determined, Bayer has announced plans to recruit 1,200 farmers in the United States and Brazil to co-develop a carbon trading platform contributing to global GHG emission reduction targets. Among the states that will benefit from this carbon-credit program are Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Michigan.

Starting last summer, Bayer began rewarding farmers in Brazil and the United States for for generating carbon credits by adopting climate-smart practices (such as no-till farming and the use of cover crops) designed to help agriculture reduce its carbon footprint and GHG emissions. The pilot program began in nine states in the Midwest.

Soil is one of the most effective ways of sequestering carbon. Incentivizing farmers to embrace no-till, precision nitrogen use or cover crops helps further sequester carbon into the soil, reduce fossil fuel usage and reduce greenhouse gases.

This initiative is the result of years of work validating a science-based approached and methodology to recognize the pivotal role growers play in helping to create lasting, positive environmental impacts, according to Brett Begemann, COO of Bayer’s Crop Science Division.

“Farmers are passionate environmentalists and stewards of the lands they farm,” Begemann said. “If anyone has a vested interest in battling climate change, it’s farmers, and we are committed to developing new business models like this unique Carbon Initiative to help them in that fight.”

While exact compensation details are still being developed, growers enrolled in the initiative would receive compensation at a flat rate per acre enrolled in the program, according to company officials. Selected growers can enroll as little as 10 acres or as many eligible acres in the program as they wish and would be compensated by the acre, not by the estimated amount of carbon sequestered.

Growers that currently do not plant a cover crop or conduct no-till farming practices could be eligible, but a subscription to Climate FieldView PLUS would be required to enable data collection used for the calculation of carbon sequestration credits.

As with all Climate platform initiatives, Bayer company officials stressed that the grower always owns his or her data and controls who he or she chooses to share that data with. Additionally, while Bayer has a broad selection of industry leading crop protection, seed and seed treatment products, growers are not currently required to purchase Bayer products to participate in the program.

“We’re excited to partner with farmers through this new Bayer Carbon Initiative,” Begemann said. “We’re honored to take this major step with farmers to create a carbon zero future for agriculture, an important legacy that we can create with farmers to leave to the next generation.”

Bayer’s efforts will begin in Brazil and the United States and then later into other world regions with tailored approaches that will allow growers to choose the climate-smart practices and implementation that works best for them. In Europe, Bayer is exploring how this innovative approach could be adapted as part of the European Green Deal, In Asia-Pacific, the goal is to increase productivity for smallholder farms as well as reduce methane emissions from rice farming.

 Interested producers are encouraged to contact their Bayer representatives or local retailer.