Jamie Vander Molen is the Vice President of Sustainability Initiatives at Newtrient. I got the chance to catch up with her during World Dairy Expo to check in on where we are at with carbon credits and what farmers should be watching for. She also shares about how Newtrient got it’s start as a dairy industry collaboration.
Founded in 2015, Newtrient was created as a collaboration between dairy cooperatives, the national dairy checkoff and National Milk Producers Federation. With the goal of helping farms to avoid additional regulation and increased environmental pressures and instead turn the areas of concern into profit makers for farms.
One of those opportunities for farmers is the possibility of getting into the carbon credit market. While farmers have been hearing about carbon credits for a while now, there hasn’t been a lot of movement yet. Jamie feels that when you look at the excitement from consumers, companies and the government as well as the dollars coming in to push these programs forward, these markets will be real for farmers very soon.
But as it stands, not all farms will be able to utilize the programs out there. Currently the programs look at improvement of farms to reach benchmarks. However many farms have been early adopters of practices and programs that have already brought them past the benchmarks set. This means that without changes, some of the farms already managing their environmental sustainability won’t be able to reap the added rewards of carbon credits.
If you’re interested in getting into the carbon credit market you need to ask some questions. Jamie suggests these questions as a start.
-What are the payment periods? How Often am I paid?
-Am I being paid off of the outcome or the practice?
-What amount will I be paid?
-Is there a minimum acreage for the program or market you are interested in?
-Are there location requirements?
-Who owns your data? How will it be used? Who has access to the data?
-Program start date and end date?
-Length of contract
-Who pays for the monitoring?
She also reminds us that this is a new and developing space. There is a lot of potential for farms to diversify using carbon credits. It’s exciting, however farms need to do their due diligence. Overall Jamie encourages farmers to stay curious and keep learning more. She shares that Newtrient is happy to talk with farmers and answer questions. You can visit their website at newtrient.com
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