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Tools and pathways for farmers

Combining ground-breaking microbial technology with farmer-friendly carbon project options

Loam is partnering with farmers in mixed and cropping systems to provide the microbial technology to build stable soil carbon in crops along with the farmer-friendly soil carbon project options that allow farmers to just get started on their carbon neutral journey.

It doesn’t matter if you are looking to participate in carbon markets, deliver carbon neutral produce into a changing supply-chain, or just want to future-proof your farm business – Loam has the technology, soil carbon project options, and expertise to ensure you have the options.

 

Loam's SecondCrop soil carbon project options share the risk of entering soil carbon projects between land managers and Loam
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Designed to integrate easily into your existing system, our CarbonBuilder seed inoculum has consistently stored 2-6t CO2e per hectare in hundreds of replicated trials and pilots
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Featured case study

A pilot in building soil carbon in canola crops

We understand that it is not easy to build soil carbon stably in cropping systems, which is why many growers have been reluctant to enter soil carbon projects without a significant portion of rotational grazing. In 2021, Loam Bio delivered three pilots in New South Wales and Victoria:

  • Lockington, Victoria
  • Wirrinya, New South Wales
  • Manildra, New South Wales

The pilot was designed to trial Loam’s microbial technologies performance in a single cropping cycle under the Australian Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF) methodology. The total project land area comprised 1,154.02 ha, and sequestered a total of 7,518.52t CO2e in one canola cropping rotation.

Loam Bio conducted three SecondCrop pilots in 2021. The total project land area comprised 1,154 ha, spread over three sites across New South Wales and Northern Victoria in Australia.
The project set out to achieve the following:
• Catalyse the growth of new carbon removal technologies by demonstrating the potential of SecondCrop to drive meaningful soil carbon sequestration in a scalable manner
• Show the potential SecondCrop to provide a meaningful additional revenue stream to growers, to help drive adoption of sustainable management practices at the grower level

Loam Bio partnered with three growers to provide diversity in terms of geography, soil type, management styles and farming practices to capture a broad spectrum of conditions. Loam looks to partner with a range of farmers across a full spectrum of practices, as our aim is to maximise adoption of our technologies to achieve the greatest impact possible.

Total land in pilot
1154.02
hectares
Total atmospheric carbon sequestered
7518.52
tonnes of  CO2e
Atmospheric carbon sequestered
6.52
tonnes of CO2e per hectare

Learn more:

Demonstrated field performance

Read more about the three pilot trials that delivered promising results for canola growers wanting to participate in soil carbon projects

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Talk through the options with our team

Complete our quick grower interest survey to see if a SecondCrop soil carbon project can benefit your farm

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Farmer Resources

Learn more about soil carbon from a wide range of sources

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Enterprise stacking

A new commodity integrated into your existing system.

Loam is partnering with farmers in our SecondCrop soil carbon projects to integrate the technology and strategies on your farm that will maximise the benefits of growing your second crop… soil carbon.

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Managing changing risk

Getting your farm business ready to adapt

Most farmers we talk to tell us they know that “this” is coming.

“This” is the market expectations that farmers will be managing and reporting their on-farm greenhouse gas emissions, so the rest of the global supply-chain can manage and report theirs.

Everybody is talking about it, but very few tools or viable pathways are being provided to farmers to be able to decrease their emissions and increase the levels of atmospheric carbon that is sequestered in their cropping soils.

Combining an easy to integrate and cost effective carbon building seed treatment with soil carbon project options with transparent costs and exit clauses finally provides mixed and cropping systems with a pathway that makes sense for their farm business, and decreases the risks of production (low cost input, increased yield and soil productivity potential) and decrease market risk (by being able to demonstrate carbon neutrality to the supply-chain).

Capturing all the benefits

Increasing the stable soil carbon in your cropping system increases soil productivity. Being in a carbon project increases your options to adapt to future market conditions and opportunities
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Managing productivity risk

Increased the soil carbon in your system supports increased nutritional uptake, water holding capacity, and yields
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Managing market risk

As the supply of carbon neutral produce becomes the market expectation, implementing the infrastructure and strategies now will protect your downside in the not-so-distant future
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Frequently asked questions

What else would you like to know?

SecondCrop is Loam’s soil carbon farming offering, helping farmers future-proof their assets above and below ground.

Combining specialist carbon agronomy with use of CarbonBuilder (Loam’s microbial seed treatment technology), SecondCrop projects enable farmers to improve the speed, quality and volume of soil carbon built in cropping systems.

CarbonBuilder has been shown to successfully increase soil carbon across different environments, but the best results occur when all of the factors that increase net sequestration are all working together.

For example, a farm with a clay loam soil, higher rainfall, higher nutrient availability and higher soil carbon be expected to build higher amounts of carbon than the converse. This is due to not only higher rates of photosynthesis (more carbon in) but also a higher formation of stable forms of carbon (less carbon out).

It’s entirely up to you.

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

You can choose whether you would like to monetise these credits by selling them, retire them to offset your on-farm emissions or to save the credits indefinitely.

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 project, 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.