Unlocking a farm’s carbon revenue potential is often seen as complex and exclusive, requiring costly expertise. Yet, many farmers feel they could handle much of the work themselves—if they had the right tools and support.
We agree. With the right tools and guidance, there’s a lot farmers can do themselves. That’s why we worked with Agnition’s Pilot Farm Network to test a “supported DIY” approach to ETS (Emissions Trading Scheme) registration. Using real-world farmer feedback, we refined our platform to make it easier than ever for farmers to earn and diversify carbon revenue.
In this blog, we’ll explore how insights from the Pilot Farm Network have helped CarbonCrop improve our tools, giving farmers more control over the carbon opportunities on their land.
What is the Pilot Farm Network?
Farmers are no strangers to innovation. But farming is demanding - with so many daily challenges, it can be hard to find time, energy, and resources to trial new tools or techniques. That’s where Agnition’s Pilot Farm Network comes in.
Set up as part of Ravensdown’s innovation arm, the Pilot Farm Network connects practical ag-tech solutions with farmers eager to test them. The feedback farmers provide helps refine these innovations, fast-tracking their development and introduction to the market.
Over its first year, the Pilot Farm Network has engaged over 60 farms, showcasing tools like pasture measurement apps and livestock-monitoring drones. Farmers benefit from early access to practical solutions, while companies like CarbonCrop gain valuable insights to optimise their offerings.
Testing CarbonCrop’s DIY Approach
For CarbonCrop, the Pilot Farm Network was a chance to answer a key question: Can farmers successfully register their forests in the ETS with a supported DIY approach?
ETS registration traditionally involves engaging forestry consultants to handle the complexities, which while effective can make it expensive and less accessible. CarbonCrop wants to change that by creating tools that allow farmers to take control of the ETS process—with support available when it’s needed.
This partnership was the perfect setting to test whether farmers could transition from passive participants to confident managers of their land’s carbon potential.
Key Insights from the Field
The results were both encouraging:
Farmers using the platform successfully identified 1,200 hectares of forest eligible for the ETS across participating farms, including previously unregistered areas. This represented ~$300,000 in annual carbon credits that had gone unclaimed.
In addition, 250 hectares of forest were identified as ineligible for the ETS but potentially valuable for voluntary markets or supply chain inset applications.
But the process wasn’t without its challenges:
Farmers required additional support to verify land use history (e.g. conditions in 1990) and to assess forest thresholds for eligibility.
Despite the complexity, at least one farmer completed the entire ETS registration process through CarbonCrop’s platform.
The experience confirmed that while farmers are capable of managing much of the process themselves, expert guidance remains critical at key moments.
A Platform Built for Farmers
As a result, CarbonCrop improved the platform, blending built-for-purpose technology with user-friendly workflows.
Here’s how it works:
Automated Mapping Farmers can quickly visualise their land’s carbon potential using aerial imagery, with forest areas automatically detected.
Yield Calculators Tools to estimate the potential financial return from carbon credits, offering a clear picture of the benefits for landholders.
Step-by-Step Task Management The platform breaks complex ETS processes into manageable tasks, with intuitive prompts to ensure accuracy.
This supported DIY approach empowers farmers to explore opportunities at their own pace, tackling small-scale registrations or testing planting scenarios without the need for extensive consultancy.
Shaping the Future of Carbon Forestry
The Pilot Farm Network experience highlighted three critical benefits of CarbonCrop’s model:
Demystifying Carbon Markets By engaging directly with the tools, farmers gain a deeper understanding of carbon forestry and its potential integration into their farm plans.
Building Confidence and Capability The hands-on approach supports landowners in making informed decisions about their forests and carbon projects.
Reducing Barriers Cost-effective tools ensure that farmers can explore opportunities flexibly, without the high upfront costs of engaging consultants.
Looking forward, we’re planning to expand access to our tools through collaborations with catchment groups, catchment collectives, and other farmer networks. These groups, already involved in activities like biodiversity and erosion control, are well-suited to support farmers in unlocking their land’s carbon potential.
Empowering Farmers, One Forest at a Time
Working with Agnition’s Pilot Farm Network has been invaluable for improving our platform. The feedback we received has helped us create tools that meet farmers where they are - equipped with local knowledge and a willingness to engage, but in need of accessible and practical tools.
By lowering barriers to entry and enabling farmers to take control, CarbonCrop is helping landowners unlock new revenue streams while contributing to a more sustainable future.
Interested in learning more about how you can unlock your land’s carbon potential? Check out the full discussion in the video above or visit the CarbonCrop website.
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