Aurivo co-op and ag-tech company, Farmeye have partnered to establish a soil carbon programme to verify and measure soil carbon stocks on farms across the northwest region.
As part of the programme, Aurivo and Farmeye will work with the farmers in the programme to implement sustainable soil management practices that will enable them to increase carbon stocks.
Speaking at the launch of the partnership, Stephen Blewitt, Aurivo general manager, said: “Aurivo [is] delighted to partner with Farmeye on this programme.
“We believe the data and information from the farms involved will be of great benefit to all farmers in our region and demonstrate the positive effects farm practices can have on carbon sequestration.’’
Commenting on the partnership, Brendan Allen, Farmeye co-founder, said: “Our purpose is to improve the lives of farmers and the environment.
“We know that soil health is the basis of all great farming. At Farmeye we measure, report and verify natural capital on farms such as soil health and soil carbon.
“Our technologies allow the food producer and farmers to measure, monitor and demonstrate the sustainability metrics of their farms.”
Allen said that their aim is to help farmers to navigate their way through a sustainable future for their enterprises.
“We are delighted to be a part of the programme with Aurivo as we see it as huge step in using specific on farm data to understand the impact of natural capital on a per farm basis,” he added.
Soil carbon
In conducting these practices, farmers will receive annual soil carbon sequestration estimates over the course of the three-year programme.
In the programme’s first year, GPS soil cores are extracted at two depths of 0-30cm and 30-60cm.
This provides an in-situ soil carbon baseline and creates a carbon heat map for each participating farm.
In the third year of the programme, soil cores are extracted again from the same locations, at the same depths, and using GPS coordinates recorded on the Farmeye platform.
These samples will qualify the changes in soil carbon stock levels from the programme’s first year.