SecondCrop Soil Carbon Projects

How SecondCrop works Project options Our approach FAQs

A new commodity.

Designed to de-risk carbon farming.

Loam is partnering with farmers, enabling them to build stable soil carbon, improve farm productivity and add carbon to their balance sheet.

How SecondCrop works.

Enrol with Loam.

Apply CarbonBuilder at planting.

Build your soil carbon.

Measure your impact through SecondCrop.

Grower stories

Farmer Neil Westcott shares his experience

Watch

Neil Westcott Testimonial

The options to let you get started.

Soil carbon projects for mixed and cropping systems.

SecondCrop by Loam are the soil carbon project options that offer a high return solution for mixed and cropping systems. Combining the ground-breaking CarbonBuilder product to build stable soil carbon, with agronomic support, and farmer friendly agreement terms – SecondCrop gives you the confidence to get started.

Carbon building technology. No setup costs. Cooling off periods.

View our SecondCrop Options here

Working in partnership with farmers.

Why participate in a SecondCrop soil carbon project?

CarbonBuilder to build soil carbon stably

Loam's microbial technology, CarbonBuilder, enables growers to build soil carbon consistently in their cropping soils.

Integrating into your mixed or cropping system

SecondCrop soil carbon projects integrate into your existing system, supported by a team of carbon experts, agronomists, and a global innovation program.

Copy of Farmer Steve Nicholson with Loam Project Delivery Lead Torben Heinzel_ Wirrinya NSW by R Lenehan min

Working together to minimise risk

SecondCrop carbon project options are designed as a true partnership between growers and Loam. No upfront costs. Cooling off periods.

Our approach

Developed for farmers, by farmers.

Developed for farmers by farmers, and backed by some of the world’s leading microbiologists and carbon market experts, our agronomic approach to integrating carbon capture on-farm creates better margins per hectare for our growers.

Start with our grower interest survey

Technology to build stable soil carbon

Loam started with the technology to build stable soil carbon and then designed the farmer-focused soil carbon projects to support growers to get started.

Close up image taken of small green shoots

The farmer-first offering to maintain optionality

No matter if growers want to inset, offset, or are unsure. SecondCrop allows you to get started.

End-to-end project management and support

There are no silver bullets when building soil carbon. We ensure you have the technology, agronomic advice, and team to partner with in a high-performing carbon project.

Farmer and an agronomist standing in a field looking at soil

Stack your productivity and environmental benefits

Increasing productivity per hectare by growing a second crop below ground. Minimising production risk, maximising market opportunity.

Frequently asked questions

What else would you like to know?

What are the costs of signing up to a SecondCrop project?

In SecondCrop there are no costs for farmers to baseline and register a soil carbon project.

In SecondCrop’s Premium option, Loam covers the cost of feasibility assessment, registration of your project with the Clean Energy Regulator, your custom Land Management Strategy (LMS), baseline soil coring and lab analysis, and ongoing soil coring and lab analysis, project audits, as well as ongoing individual carbon agronomy support.

The only out-of-pocket cost for farmers under the Premium offering is the CarbonBuilder inoculum.

In SecondCrop’s Pro option, Loam covers the cost of feasibility assessment, registration with the Clean Energy Regulator, your custom Land Management Strategy (LMS), the first baseline soil measurement and lab analysis as well as ongoing carbon agronomy.

The out-of-pocket costs for farmers in the Pro Option of SecondCrop is the purchase of CarbonBuilder, subsequent soil sampling and analysis after baselining and project audits.

How do you measure the soil carbon?

Direct measurement (physical soil sampling) and laboratory analysis are widely accepted as the most accurate method of measuring changes in soil carbon. Under SecondCrop, we use direct measurement, taking 1m soil cores and analysing soil carbon levels at the 0 – 30cm, and 30cm – 1m depths.

Soil sampling is one of the largest costs in a project, however Loam covers all or some of this cost depending on which SecondCrop project option you choose. The first soil sampling in a SecondCrop project typically happens in year 2-3. Exact timing will differ between projects based on environmental factors, land mangement practices and farmer preference.

Will I get paid for increasing my soil carbon? Can I instead keep my carbon credits to offset my on-farm emissions?

It’s entirely up to you.

SecondCrop projects that build soil carbon and demonstrate net greenhouse gas emissions abatement will be awarded Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs).

You can choose whether you would like to monetise these ACCUs by selling them. Alternatively, you may wish to retire them to offset your on-farm emissions or to save the credits indefinitely. You may opt for a combination of all of the above.

It is important that farmers are able to have the options to do what works best for their businesses, which is why SecondCrop is designed to enable full optionality.

What happens to my carbon project if I sell my farm?

If you sell your farm or there are changes in land ownership, Loam is able to work with the current and future landholder to review the SecondCrop project, and obtain Legal Right and Eligible Interest Holder consents to continue the project with the new owner/s.

SecondCrop projects are 25 years in duration from when the first credits are issued, as per the requirements of the Australian Clean Energy Regulator.

Farmers can choose to exit a SecondCrop project with no penalty or exit cost before the first measurement event (typically in year 2-3), including if they decide to sell the farm.