Switching to the Carbon by Indigo program
by Indigo Agriculture
Interested in switching from one carbon program over to Carbon by Indigo? It’s possible as long as your fields meet two important requirements.
The agricultural carbon market has exploded in recent years - and so has the number of programs trying to work with growers to produce credits. As the industry’s only option producing registry-verified credits at scale, Carbon by Indigo farmers can rest assured that they’re participating in a quality, sustainable program that will command premium prices for offsets.
But what if you’ve enrolled your fields in another carbon program and are less than thrilled with the experience? Switching over to Carbon by Indigo is definitely possible, provided your fields meet the following requirements.
Meeting Additionality
Carbon by Indigo qualifies fields and credits based on “additionality”. This means that growers must adopt a new carbon farming practice(s) that will lead to increased carbon sequestration and emissions reduction. This ensures that the credits being produced are leading to real environmental impact through change in net carbon emissions. The resulting level of quality supports a robust credit buyer’s market, program sustainability, and high credit prices…all key and proven components of the Carbon by Indigo program.
If a grower adopts new practices after making the switch to Carbon by Indigo, those fields will qualify and be credited, even if they were part of another program previously.
If approved practices were adopted before switching to Carbon by Indigo, those fields may qualify if practices were adopted less than two years before enrolling in the former program. For example, if a grower adopted practice changes in 2018 and entered another program in 2020, their fields would still qualify for Indigo in 2021 and beyond based on the initial year of practice change (2018) and carbon program entry (2020).
The key is enrolling in the previous carbon program within the registry-approved two year practice change eligibility window. This is a must in order to generate verified carbon credits, even if the previous program provided for a “lookback” beyond two years.
Avoiding Double Counting
Another important parameter to consider is around the idea of double counting (i.e. fields that are enrolled in and paid by multiple carbon programs in the same season). Growers can certainly enroll separate fields in multiple programs at the same time - but any sort of overlap will lead to disqualification.
Note that this also applies to forward payments. If a prior program has “pre-paid” farmers for upcoming years, those fields would not be eligible or creditable under the double counting criteria.
Next Steps
Transitioning fields over to Carbon by Indigo is very doable, provided the aforementioned criteria are considered and met. The Indigo team believes that all growers should be able to take advantage of the burgeoning carbon market and have the opportunity to work with a program that puts growers first - regardless of the carbon program they may have initially enrolled in.
Interested in switching over to Carbon by Indigo? Send us a message by clicking on the red icon in the bottom right hand corner of the page below.
This article may include information from third-party sources or other information that Indigo may not independently verify. Carbon quantification methods, processes and understandings are in their nascency and subject to change and continuous development. The information contained herein is for general informational purposes only and may be based on generally applicable assumptions that may not be applicable to any individual operation. Actual results may differ among growers and farms based on a large number of variables. Each operation should independently consider the financial implications and all potential risks and benefits of the use of any agronomic practice. Any payments under Carbon by Indigo are subject to multi-year vesting and are contingent on continued long-term maintenance of regenerative agricultural practices and soil carbon levels. All Carbon Credits generated are subject to buffer pool holdbacks required by third-party crediting; participants will not receive payments for such holdback. Neither Indigo nor its representatives or affiliates makes any representations, warranties or guarantees as to any specific outcomes (agronomic, financial or otherwise) in connection with any recommendations, calculations or predictions. Terms, conditions, limitations and eligibility requirements apply. See program agreement for additional details regarding Carbon by Indigo.
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Neither Indigo nor any of its affiliates makes any representations, warranties or guarantees as to any specific results or outcomes, including, without limitation, with respect to soil health outcomes or any minimum amount of greenhouse gasses sequestered or number of carbon credits generated. Participation in Carbon by Indigo is subject to the terms, conditions and limitations of the program contained in the applicable enrollment agreement. Any payments under Carbon by Indigo are subject to multi-year vesting and are contingent on continued long-term maintenance of regenerative agricultural practices and soil carbon levels. All Carbon Credits generated are subject to buffer pool holdbacks required by third-party crediting; participants will not receive payments for such holdback. Not available in all areas.
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