Farmers are Climate Change Champions: Here’s How Carbon Credit Buyers Can Become Their Allies
Dan Grotsky
Mitigating climate change demands more than emission reductions; it requires proactive steps – specifically Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) – to sequester excess CO₂ for the long term. Soil – Earth’s second-largest carbon sink – already sequesters 13.12 gigatons of CO₂ equivalent (CO₂e) annually in forests and uncultivated lands and is an obvious and compelling destination for that carbon. Agricultural croplands have the capacity to sequester an additional 8 gCO₂e annually. While they have become one of the largest net carbon emitters today due to modern agricultural practices, it’s not too late to restore croplands to their status as durable carbon retainers. Farmers hold the key to unlocking soil’s carbon potential – but they can’t do it alone.
Successful cropland carbon sequestration needs the activation of the entire value chain. Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) buyers who recognize farmers as climate change champions and are ready to become their allies can do their part by supporting high-integrity soil carbon programs based on permanent carbon sequestration.
Soil: The Foundation of a Climate Solution
The Problem: Modern agriculture has degraded soil health, turning cropland into a net carbon emitter and exacerbating the climate crisis. Conventional practices have oversaturated soil with fertilizers, degraded microbial communities, and contaminated freshwater with runoff – resulting in 25% of global greenhouse gas emissions now attributed to food systems and agriculture.
The Potential: Soil is the second-largest carbon sink on Earth, capable of sequestering up to 8 gCO₂e annually. Mycorrhizae – the fungal infrastructure of permanent carbon storage in healthy soils – already sequester 13.12 gCO₂e annually in forests and uncultivated lands. Reawakening this potential in cropland can alter the trajectory of today’s climate crisis.
The Solution: Reintroducing mycorrhizal fungi to crops helps extend plant root zones by up to 100x. The results not only improve crop yields by 5–20%, reduce fertilizer dependency by up to 50%, and boost plant stress resistance, but mycorrhizae permanently sequester 1 to 4 gCO₂e per acre annually.
Farmers are Carbon Sequestration Champions
Farmers today are dealing with soil fertility challenges, input price volatility, and increasing climate instability. Agriculture has always been subject to the whims of nature, but today’s unpredictable environment further heightens the risks inherent in farming.
In response, farmers are exploring ways to save on inputs, earn additional income, and boost soil fertility naturally. Restoring mycorrhizal fungi to farms not only accelerates the agronomic benefits of higher yields, healthier soil, and resilience to climate stresses, but most importantly, mycorrhizae are nature’s primary pathway by which carbon enters soil and remains there permanently. Rootella Carbon – Groundwork BioAg’s mycorrhizal carbon program – introduces a new paradigm for CDR credits that kickstarts regenerative practice adoption while delivering the durable CDR solution that today’s carbon markets demand.
Mycorrhiza also provides farmers with a “natural insurance policy” by reconnecting their farming business with the true value of their most precious asset: their soil. By harnessing mycorrhizal fungi with Rootella Carbon, farmers can realize immediate agronomic benefits from carbon in their soil, and long-term economic gains from carbon credits in the market.
CDR Buyers: Allies in Scaling Climate Impact
This is where CDR buyers come in to play a pivotal role in scaling mycorrhizal carbon credits within the narrow timeline needed for climate stability.
Rootella Carbon delivers four core benefits for carbon credit buyers:
- Permanence: Mycorrhizae catalyze the formation of Mineral-Associated Organic Matter (MAOM): recalcitrant carbon aggregates with a mean age of 4,830 years. Rootella Carbon ensures durable carbon sequestration through positive net flux, stable molecule aggregation, and a 3rd-party verified buffer pool.
- Immediate Scalability: Supported by our proprietary software platform’s robust infrastructure, the Rootella Carbon program experienced over 10x growth in 2024 and is overbooked for 2025. We are scaling across North America and preparing for expansion into Brazil—two of the world’s largest agricultural markets.
- High Integrity: Rootella Carbon adheres to the Verra VM0042 v2.0 methodology. The project is currently under validation and verification by SCS Global – a Verra-certified third-party verification and validation body (VVB), guaranteeing buyers the highest standards of transparency and accountability.
- Local Community Investment: Carbon credit buyers can choose to support their own communities by purchasing credits generated on local farms, unlocking a new revenue stream for those farmers. Corporations pursuing net-zero goals are already exploring ways to buy Rootella Carbon credits from farms in the regions where they operate.
How Can CDR Buyer Allies Support Climate Champion Farmers?
Investors and buyers today demand measurable, scalable, high-integrity environmental impact. Supporting farmers in their role as stewards of the land is no longer optional – it’s imperative – and mycorrhizal CDR offers the most potent, scalable, and durable climate solution available.
While farmers do the hands-on work to sequester carbon and restore soil health, they need allies to amplify their impact. Together, the entire value chain can drive meaningful change and transform today’s capital into generational impact.
