Browse Ambrook’s collection of funding programs by Ducks Unlimited

Contact Ducks Unlimited's carbon program through the program page — DU lists an Economist/Environmental Markets Specialist at (970) 593-8938 for landowners and credit buyers interested in learning more.

Ducks Unlimited Carbon Program

Economist / Environmental Markets Specialist

Ducks Unlimited's carbon program helps private landowners earn revenue from carbon offset markets by assembling credits from grassland and forest restoration or preservation on their land. DU brings industry buyers and landowners together, handling the carbon side — methodology, validation, and credit sales — while the landowner keeps ranching or managing the land.


DU&#x2004;has run avoided-grassland-conversion projects in the Prairie Pothole Region since the early 2010s, including a North Dakota project through the American Carbon Registry that validated nearly 40,000 offsets across dozens of private landowners, and one of the first grassland preservation methodologies. The program also spans bottomland forest plantings, wetland habitats, and management of agricultural systems such as rice fields.


For ranchers, the model resembles The Climate Trust's: revenue for keeping grassland intact, with conservation as the mechanism rather than practice change.



Ducks Unlimited's carbon program helps private landowners earn revenue from carbon offset markets by assembling credits from grassland and forest restoration or preservation on their land. DU brings industry buyers and landowners together, handling the carbon side — methodology, validation, and credit sales — while the landowner keeps ranching or managing the land.

DU has run avoided-grassland-conversion projects in the Prairie Pothole Region since the early 2010s, including a North Dakota project through the American Carbon Registry that validated nearly 40,000 offsets across dozens of private landowners, and one of the first grassland preservation methodologies. The program also spans bottomland forest plantings, wetland habitats, and management of agricultural systems such as rice fields.

For ranchers, the model resembles The Climate Trust's: revenue for keeping grassland intact, with conservation as the mechanism rather than practice change.

- Private landowners with grassland at risk of conversion, forest restoration or preservation opportunities, wetland habitat, or agricultural systems (such as rice fields) suited to strategic management.
- Projects are assembled by DU with partner methodologies (American Carbon Registry history in the Prairie Pothole Region); willingness to commit acres to preservation or restoration is the core requirement.

A contract to sell an environmental outcome the operation produces - sequestered carbon, a water-quality credit, a habitat credit - to a buyer, rather than receiving an award. Payment is typically per unit (per acre or per ton CO2e) over a multi-year term and contingent on verification, so records using this instrument carry the payment.* and contract.* fields rather than award.min/award.max. Covers both credit-generating programs, where credits are sold to outside buyers, and supply-chain insetting programs, where a company the operation already sells to pays for the practice.

Environmental Market

Payment per unit of land to do or avoid certain practices related to land management.

Easement

Soil Health

Air Quality

Carbon Capture

Certification

High Tunnel

Landscape

Wildlife & Pollinator Habitat

Reduced Tillage

Certified Organic

Certified Grassfed

Cover Crops

Regenerative

Conservation

No payment rates or standard contract terms are published; projects are assembled individually from grassland or forest preservation and restoration, with DU managing methodology, validation, and credit marketing. Historical reference: DU's North Dakota avoided-grassland-conversion project validated nearly 40,000 offsets through the American Carbon Registry across 28 landowners and 11,000+ acres in its CIG phase, later expanding to 114 landowners and 50,000 acres.

Contact a DU or ADM representative via the online form, complete a consultation and eligibility survey, sign the ADM one-year contract, complete FBN onboarding and data entry, plant covers per NRCS standards, and submit a closing survey to receive the annual per-acre payment.

Ducks Unlimited partnered with Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (ADM) and Farmers Business Network (FBN) to promote sustainable agricultural practices. The initiative aims to incentivize producers in Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio to implement 320,000 acres of cover crops across the three states. This is a privately funded initiative (ADM and FBN provide the financial backing), not an NRCS program.



The program targets row-crop farmers in Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan who grow wheat, corn, or soybeans in rotation. Specific requirements vary by state and practice type; some tiers exclude concurrent EQIP/CSP/RCPP enrollment.

A payment that requires some percentage of matching contributions by the recipient.

Cost Share

Compensation ranges from $10–$25 per acre, determined by state (Indiana, Ohio, Michigan), practice type (new cover crop implementation, expanded practices, or basic planting), and prior participation in federal programs. Additional payments are available for no-till, strip-till, living root, and nitrogen-balance practices on wheat. Enrollment involves a one-year ADM contract and planting covers per NRCS standards.

List of Ducks Unlimited Funding Opportunities