Grassroots Carbon Soil Carbon Program

Grassroots Carbon pays US cattle and bison ranchers annually for carbon stored in their soils through regenerative grazing. Ranchers join at no cost — there are no out-of-pocket enrollment expenses — and receive payments based on the carbon actually measured in their soil, at the credit price current in that year, so they are never locked into a set rate and keep the upside when credit prices rise.

Grassroots Carbon describes itself as a pioneering soil carbon storage company that partners with ranchers across the U.S. to implement and scale regenerative grazing practices, capturing and storing atmospheric CO₂ in healthy soils. The company reports that it is the largest regenerative grazing soil carbon company in the world, with over 2.7 million acres across 22 states enrolled and generating soil carbon removals, and that it has paid land stewards over $42 million in carbon funding to date.

Grassroots Carbon's soil carbon quantification is underpinned by rigorous soil sampling standard operating procedures that include the use of 1-meter deep soil sampling. This deep sampling far exceeds the 30-centimeter depth required by most soil carbon methodologies. In addition to physical soil samples, Grassroots Carbon has introduced vehicle-mounted electromagnetic induction (EMI) technology that takes readings between physical sample locations. These readings can be correlated to physical samples, and its geospatial and data science teams use the EMI readings and physical samples to create a dynamic soil carbon stock quantification map of each property.

Grassroots Carbon owns and operates the PastureMap+ software application. PastureMap+ has over 30,000 users globally, who leverage the platform to help manage complex adaptive multi-paddock grazing operations. All land stewards who participate in Grassroots Carbon soil carbon projects use PastureMap+ to design and implement their Grazing Management Plans (GMPs). On the back end, PastureMap+ incorporates all of Grassroots Carbon's data streams, including soil samples, EMI readings, practice changes, and biogeophysical and climatic data, to run an integrated dMRV suite.

Participating ranches go through a rigorous technical review by the Grassroots Carbon technical team to assess eligibility under the Standard. Grassroots Carbon connects ranchers with 3rd party regenerative ranching experts to design and implement Grazing Management Plans that detail the practice changes that are implemented on each ranch. The eligible practices center around the core principles in regenerative ranching: increased stocking densities, subdivision of paddocks, frequent rotations, and long periods of rest and recovery.

Grassroots Carbon provides all of the technical assistance, equipment, and funding to help ranchers transition to regenerative ranching. Participating ranchers optimize their herd movements, which leads to regeneration of native perennial grasses and expansion of their root systems. Deeper root penetration leads to greater below-ground carbon inputs, enhanced soil structure and aggregate stability, and improved water infiltration and retention.

As carbon moves deeper through the soil profile, it becomes mineral-associated carbon (MAOC). MAOC is a stable and durable form of soil organic carbon that is central to long-term carbon sequestration in grasslands. It is formed when organic matter binds chemically to soil minerals. Once bound to minerals, this carbon is protected from microbial decomposition and can remain stored in the soil for centuries or even thousands of years. In the Great Plains, soil at 1-meter depth has been dated to over 10,000 years old.

While soil carbon removals are central to Grassroots Carbon's work, the impact of the project goes beyond soil carbon.

Regenerative grazing restores native grassland ecosystems, increasing biodiversity across plant, insect, bird, and wildlife populations. Grassroots Carbon partners with organizations such as the National Audubon Society to monitor and quantify biodiversity outcomes, including creation and preservation of bird habitat and food sources.

See the impact of Grassroots Carbon's partnership with the National Audubon Society here.

Additionally, healthy soils under regenerative management can absorb 8–10 times more water than degraded soils, improving drought resilience, restoring hydrological function, and reducing runoff and erosion. Grassroots Carbon has developed innovative partnerships with leading NGOs like The Nature Conservancy to monitor water outcomes related to water quality and quantity on regeneratively managed grasslands.

See the impact Grassroots Carbon's projects have on water resources here.

The program is built for ranchers who:

• Run grazing operations, from family ranches to large-scale herds — Grassroots reports working with ranches from 180 acres to 130,000 acres.

• Manage substantial grasslands within eligible US regions.

• Are willing to implement and commit to regenerative grazing practices that improve soil health, forage availability, water retention, and biodiversity.

Additionality is required: without a change from current practice, ranchers cannot generate carbon credits. That may mean reducing synthetic fertilizers or pesticides, implementing adaptive multi-paddock (AMP) grazing, or other changes, and the rancher must be able to document the change. Practices are tracked in the PastureMap app.

Two program structures. Grassroots offers a 15-year program on the Regenerative Standard — five years of managed grazing followed by soil sampling to measure carbon, with the only commitment for the following ten years being not to till and release the carbon — and a 30-year Climate Action Reserve (CAR) or Verra program, where the first ten years are grazing practice changes and the producer may then continue with managed grazing and crediting. Payments run in 10-year crediting periods with measurements every five years.

How payment works. Producers are paid for every ton of carbon stored between measurements at the current credit price that year — never locked into a set rate, always keeping the upside. On a Western Sustainability Exchange rancher panel in April 2025, Grassroots described the rancher's share after costs ranging from about $3 per acre in arid environments to $18-20 per acre in areas like Virginia.

Cost. There are no out-of-pocket costs to enroll.

1. Apply to become a carbon credit rancher through the form on the ranchers page.

2. Meet with the Grassroots team to discuss your location, land management practices, and openness to changing those practices.

3. If it's a fit, a measurement team takes baseline soil samples, and payments follow the carbon stored between measurements.

Contacts: Taylor Coit (taylor.coit@buildgrassroots.com, (210) 953-4496) or Hunter Jones (hunter.jones@buildgrassroots.com).

• Five Carbon Companies Answer Ranchers' Top Questions (3.39 MB) — WSE rancher panel featuring Grassroots Carbon