Carbon by Indigo

Carbon by Indigo pays farmers for carbon sequestered through practice changes on cropland, rather than a lump sum or single payment for practice change. The standard program returns 75% of the weighted carbon credit purchase price directly to the farmer, and farmers always take home 75% or more of the carbon credit average sale amount.

Credits are issued by the Climate Action Reserve (CAR), an independent third-party registry, which confirms their eligibility for sale. Indigo describes the program as the largest registry-approved agricultural soil carbon program in the market, with more than 2 million credits issued to date.

There are eight criteria your operation needs to meet to be eligible for the Carbon by Indigo program:

1. Location — fields must be located in an eligible state. The program is available across all 48 continental US states.

2. Land use — at this time, only cropland is eligible. Indigo states it aims to expand to other land use types, such as pastureland, in the future.

3. Crops — you must grow a currently supported crop on the fields you would like to contract, and have exclusively planted eligible crops on those fields in the last five years (excluding crops grown as covers). Eligible crops: alfalfa, barley, dry beans or peas, canola, corn, cotton, flax, millet, oats, peanuts, rye, sorghum or milo, soybeans, sugar beets, sunflowers, triticale, wheat.

4. Practice change — you must make a practice change on your farm. Eligible practices include planting cover crops, reducing tillage, diversifying crop rotation, and improving nitrogen timing. Cover crops are the best way to maximize payment.

5. Other programs — fields currently enrolled in other carbon credit programs are not eligible. Fields under some conservation agreements may also be ineligible: fields in CRP are ineligible, but fields utilizing EQIP or CSP are eligible.

6. Tenure — fields must have been used in agricultural production for at least the past ten years.

7. Uncommon situations — a few scenarios may make a field ineligible, including clearing native ecosystems, farming on histosols, reclaiming mining land, and adding tile drains during the Carbon contract period.

8. Record keeping — you are required to submit detailed field records, which may include planting dates, fertilizer type, and application method, depending on your operation.

Indigo also states the program is open to farmers who grow any of 18 types of crops on at least 150 acres, enrolling at least one field.

Payments are based on performance — the number of verified carbon credits generated on enrolled land and sold to a third-party buyer.

All payments under Carbon by Indigo are subject to multi-year vesting and are contingent on continued long-term maintenance of regenerative agricultural practices and soil carbon levels. Indigo's disclosure states payments are "paid on a five-year schedule."

All carbon credits generated are subject to a buffer pool holdback of up to 20% of credits generated, required by third-party crediting to protect against reversals; participants will not receive payments for the holdback.

Indigo states that even if farmers choose to discontinue carbon farming with Indigo, they will never be asked to pay back money they have been paid.

Create a free account and enter basic operation information to check eligibility. Indigo provides a carbon calculator to estimate earning potential by location and practice change before enrolling. Enrollment is digital, and growers can review the terms and conditions of the Carbon contract during the enrollment process.

Questions about whether an operation qualifies can go to customersupport@indigoag.com.