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What is it? How does it work? How to use CarbonBuilder FAQs
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Build stable soil carbon, improve soil health, and increase crop productivity

CarbonBuilder leverages the carbon cycle of a soybean plant's natural root system to consistently capture more stable carbon in your soil.

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loam bio soybean harvest

By increasing soil organic carbon, you can accelerate soil health, promote plant growth and enhance productivity. 

The research

CarbonBuilder has been proven to deliver significant increases in stable soil carbon

Loam has established partnerships with esteemed universities in Australia and the United States to run independent lab and field trials and analyses to determine the safety and effectiveness of our CarbonBuilder microbial technology.

Learn more about our CarbonBuilder Soybean product

Increase organic matter

On average, 57% of soil organic matter is from carbon. CarbonBuilder increases soil fungi mycelium, creating more biomass to capture carbon and more stable bonds with soil particles and minerals.

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Increase water holding capacity

By increasing soil organic matter and soil structure, CarbonBuilder helps the soil take in and hold more water per acre.

loam bio soybean harvest

Enhance nutrient cycling

CarbonBuilder increases soil organic carbon, feeding microbes and increasing their release of nitrogen and phosphorous and providing more nutrients to the plant.

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How to use CarbonBuilder

Simply apply as a seed treatment at planting

CarbonBuilder Soybean has been specially formulated for soybeans, leveraging the strongest carbon building endophytic fungi specific to soybean plants in U.S. soils. Our microbial treatment is applied to your seed as you are planting, allowing the product to be delivered as an alternative to your flowability over-treatment – no new equipment required.

Because our microbial technology is a living organism, it’s important to carefully follow Loam’s handling, storage and usage guidelines to ensure the highest product performance.

Soybean Seed

Frequently asked questions

Learn more about CarbonBuilder

There are a number of pools of carbon within soils, each with unique characteristics and differing timescales for the release of carbon back to the atmosphere.

Particulate organic carbon (POC) derived primarily from plant material but also from insects, and detritus generated through fragmentation and decomposition of litter and the breakup of pre-existing soil aggregates. POC is considered the least stable carbon pool.

Aggregate carbon (AggC) tends to be more stable as particle size decreases and as layers of protection increase (Tisdall and Oades 1982; Dexter 1988). Carbon in aggregates can be protected from decomposition when the pore network limits diffusion of gases or nutrients. AggC is a crucial medium-stability carbon pool, bolstering the soil’s capacity to sequester carbon effectively while also improving soil condition.

Mineral associated organic matter (MAOM) is the largest and most stable pool of carbon in soil. Understanding and correctly modelling MAOM dynamics supports management practices that can sequester soil carbon for climate change mitigation, as well as increase soil organic matter (SOM) stocks to support soil health, in the long-term. MAOM is considered a reservoir of long-term SOC.
CarbonBuilder increases carbon levels in both the aggregate carbon (AggC) and the mineral associated organic matter (MAOM) pools, which are the more stable forms of carbon in our soils.

Traditional soil assessments measure total organic carbon (TOC), but it is important to recognise that not all soil carbon is equally stable. Carbon is stored in different forms in our soils and the way we manage soil can determine soil carbon stability.

TOC can be separated into different fractions, such as plant-derived fast-cycling carbon (POC), carbon physically entrapped in aggregates (Agg-C), and slow-cycling mineral-associated organic matter (MAOM).

CarbonBuilder increases carbon levels in the more stable fractions, as aggregate carbon and mineral associated carbon, which are less likely to have large seasonal variations expected for particular organic carbon pools.

Our products have been tested in standard fertiliser regimes.

We do not recommend that you apply more nitrogen in your system to support your carbon sequestration. Our agronomists can support your nutrition program to ensure that your soil nutrition is balanced to give you the best carbon sequestration outcomes.

It is accepted that increasing soil carbon improves soil structure and thus the water holding capacity of soils. Throughout Loam’s field trialling, we have observed occasional increases in soil carbon and plant available water in treated areas compared to untreated areas. We continue to collect data on this in our R&D program.

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