Bloomington, Illinois and Memphis, Tennessee, USA
August 10, 2021
GROWMARK, a farmer-owned cooperative focused on the success of its customers, and Indigo Ag, a company leveraging nature and technology to unlock economic and environmental progress in agriculture, today announced a joint effort to spur participation in the growing market for agricultural carbon. Under this collaboration, the GROWMARK System's network of FS branded retailers will help farmers navigate an increasingly complex soil carbon market and confidently get started on their carbon farming journey with the only high-quality, third-party verified credit program in operation today: Carbon by Indigo.
The GROWMARK System and Indigo together will provide farmer owners with the end-to-end support necessary to succeed in the agricultural carbon opportunity. Participating FS retailers will help farmers evaluate and enroll in Carbon by Indigo and implement beneficial farming practices proven to sequester carbon and abate greenhouse gas emissions. Upon enrollment, Indigo will leverage its advanced capabilities for measuring and verifying on-farm environmental impact at scale to translate the effects of farmers' efforts into a new source of revenue in the form of premium carbon credits.
"The opportunity for farmers to benefit from public demand for high-quality carbon credits is tremendous," said Mark Orr, Vice President, Agronomy, GROWMARK. "We're proud to work with Indigo to provide our farmer partners with a simple and informed path to generate maximum revenue for their efforts."
The two companies are joined in a mutual effort to ensure farmers are equipped with informed guidance as they contemplate participating in the carbon market and, if they do choose to enroll, are supported with the resources and knowledge to maximize their agronomic, environmental, and financial success. Building on Carbon by Indigo's distinct focus on ensuring informed decision making, the GROWMARK System partnership enables farmers to confidently work with partners they know and trust to help them make the right decisions for their unique operation. Combining the extensive expertise of the GROWMARK System's network of trained agronomists with Indigo's experience operationalizing the demanding measurement and third-party verification standards set by leading global credit registries, the industry collaboration provides a simple and viable path for farmers to succeed with carbon in the long-term.
"FS retailers in the GROWMARK System are proven industry leaders in offering trusted expertise to help farmers interpret and simplify the complexities of modern agriculture, and they do so over a broad geographical footprint," said Chris Harbourt, Global Head of Carbon at Indigo Ag. "We are excited to be working with GROWMARK and FS retailers to help further farmers' understanding of the fast-growing carbon farming landscape and support the development of the market to adequately reflect the value of farmers' environmental contributions."
As demand for voluntary ag carbon credits grows into an estimated $42 billion farmer opportunity, Indigo and the GROWMARK System—which continues to focus on identifying and supporting new paths for climate positive practices under its Endure sustainability initiative—are working to ensure farmers maximize the long-term profitability potential of their participation. A focus on high-quality credit generation is critical to this effort and to carbon credits' effectiveness as an outcomes-based approach to catalyze adoption of beneficial farming practices at scale. Carbon by Indigo's work to generate premium credits has in turn cultivated a network of premium credit buyers (including global brands like JPMorgan Chase, Ralph Lauren Corporation, The North Face, and Barclays) and resulted in a 35% increase in the price of Carbon by Indigo credits over the last year.
You can learn more about GROWMARK here and Carbon by Indigo here.
ABOUT GROWMARK, INC
GROWMARK is an agricultural cooperative serving almost 400,000 customers across North America, providing agronomy, energy, facility engineering and construction, and logistics products and services, as well as grain marketing and risk management services. Headquartered in Bloomington, Illinois, GROWMARK owns the FS trademark, which is used by member cooperatives. GROWMARK also owns and operates SEEDWAY, the largest full-line seed company in the United States. More information is available at growmark.com.
ABOUT INDIGO AG
Indigo Ag improves grower profitability, environmental sustainability, and consumer health through the use of nature-based and digital technologies. The company's core offerings – Biologicals, Carbon, Marketplace, and Transport – integrate across the supply chain to optimize how the world's most impact crops are produced, sourced, and distributed. Founded in 2014 with a mission of harnessing nature to help farmers sustainably feed the planet, today the company's technology connects stakeholders across the agricultural ecosystem to unlock sustainability and profitability benefits for all. Indigo Ag is headquartered in Boston, MA, with additional offices in Memphis, TN; Research Triangle Park, NC; Sao Paulo, Brazil; and Basel, Switzerland.
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