Farming for Carbon & Nature (FCN)

Farming for Carbon & Nature (FCN) is a tertiary education project that aims to use university payments to pay farmers on university or college owned land to sequester soil carbon, increase biodiversity and produce more nutrient-dense food, whilst also helping universities to reach their net zero targets. Payments for ecosystem services will be used to help farms transition to nature friendly farming practices and quantifiably improve soil health, increase wildlife and sequester soil carbon.

FCN will provide opportunities for students to access and engage with nature through soil sampling/testing and biodiversity monitoring on farms, and we hope to also include nutrient density testing on farms in the future. By working with senior soil and biodiversity academics, and having access to university labs, soil carbon testing and biodiversity monitoring will be scientifically robust and provide valuable data to help shape FCN, and other similar projects.

The NEIRF grant will enable us to:

Develop an investment model. Working with technical advisors, sellers (farms) and buyers (universities), we will identify the best financial model and governance arrangements to achieve our environmental goals for the farms and net zero targets for universities. We will focus on bundling or stacking payments for carbon sequestration and biodiversity increases but other potential ecosystem services and/or additionality arising from FCN will be examined for further revenue potential.
Establish suitable and credible verification for the ecosystem services to be sold. Verification (or certification) will help inform our business model and ensure FCN is an attractive proposition for universities. We will seek to understand how verified farm level data collated through FCN could be used by farms to help them benefit from mixed funding streams, for example combining private investment with other sources of private or public funding such as E.L.M.S.
Create a viable business model. Working with legal and technical advisors as well as other stakeholders we will aim to establish a business case that works for tenant farms on university/college owned land, farms that are managed by universities/colleges themselves, and universities that do not own their own farmland.

Explore Farming for Carbon & Nature Contact

Development of an investment model and business case for bundling or stacking payments for verified carbon sequestration and biodiversity increases on tertiary education farmland (tenant farms and institution managed farms), enabling the transition to nature friendly farming and universities to reach their net zero targets.

Students Organising for Sustainability UK
Accelar Limited
AGS Carbon Advisory
Blandy & Blandy LLP
Universities in the UK
Farms on university and college owned land

Universities will be able to buy carbon that has been stored in soil and evidenced as such using scientifically robust soil carbon sampling and testing protocols. We are expecting at least £40 per tonne of carbon sequestered & believe there is a minimum of forty years potential for soil carbon recovery. Carbon payments may be via voluntary carbon credits or part of a carbon offsetting or insetting model.
Universities will also be able to pay for biodiversity increases evidenced through scientifically robust monitoring by trained students. We may bundle payments, for example by charging an additional £10 for biodiversity increases gained per tonne of carbon sequestered. Alternatively, payments for ecosystem services could be stacked.
Post pilot we will either charge a percentage levy on the ecosystem services payments or charge an FCN membership fee to cover the cost of SOS-UK staff to manage the project going forward. After the pilot we expect to attract £890k p/yr with an investment model that works for tenant farms on university/college owned land, farms managed by universities/colleges themselves, and universities that do not own their own farmland.

Climate change mitigation and adaptation: We expect to sequester 17,800 tonnes of carbon in farm soils p/yr. Sustainable farming also uses up to 45% less energy & releases 40% fewer carbon emissions, whilst producing yields up to 40% higher in times of drought compared to conventional farming after a 5yr transition period.
Thriving plants and wildlife: The biggest impact on UK biodiversity in the last 50yrs has been the intensification of agriculture. UK colleges and universities have large agricultural landholdings, totalling more than 35,000ha. FCN will help these farms to manage their land more sustainably by creating wildlife-rich habitats and planting trees.

Explore Farming for Carbon & Nature Contact