The updates include expanded enrollment eligibility that gives more farmers access to potential new revenue streams for participating. In addition, an extended historical performance period for fields with eligible practice changes and a new Nitrogen Management Program could increase a farmer’s per-acre payment potential.
″Our mission is to improve and expand our program to create additional opportunities for even more American farmers. These recent enhancements provide farmers with more options, resources and benefits so that we can meet them where they are in their regenerative journey. There’s never been a better time for farmers to explore enrolling in our program.″ Leonardo Bastos, Senior Vice President of Ecosystem Services at Bayer Crop Science said.
The Bayer Carbon Program is part of ForGround by Bayer, Bayer’s digital platform of resources and program options, designed to help U.S. farmers realize the soil health benefits of regenerative agriculture practices, like reducing tillage and planting cover crops. The carbon program creates a mutually beneficial model that pays farmers for their efforts to sequester carbon through regenerative agriculture practices.
Farmers who enroll eligible fields, perform their selected regenerative agriculture practices and pass practice verification, have the potential to earn an annual payment of up to $12 per acre. If a farmer participates in the Nitrogen Management Program, that payment could be as high as $16 per acre in years when the enrolled field is planted with corn.2 Plus, depending on when the selected practices were adopted, farmers could receive a one-time historical practices payment of up to $48 per acre for implementing cover crops and select reduced tillage practices beginning on or after August 1, 2019.
Unlike some other carbon-based sustainability programs that incentivize farmers, the Bayer Carbon Program bases revenue potential on the practices performed, instead of how many tons of carbon are captured. This simple and certain approach reduces the farmer’s risk by communicating upfront at the time of enrollment how many dollars per acre they will be paid if they meet all program requirements. Farmers can choose the eligible cash crops and practices they want to adopt, while Bayer provides agronomic support, performs soil sampling and helps with data collection and verification.
