The Living Soils Initiative, launched in January 2018 aims to accelerate the adoption of conservation agriculture practices by farmers.
According to the FAO, these type of agricultural practices bring economical, agronomical and environmental benefits to farmers while fighting climate change as they allow the storage of carbon in the soil.
Our objectives for 2021 are the following:
- 25 companies have adopted the 'living soil' criterion in their product specifications
- 100,000 hectares have been converted to regenerative practices
- 30,000 tonnes of carbon are stored in soils each year
- 109,800 tonnes of CO2 are removed from the atmosphere
The project is based on two key work pillars:
Pillar one is dedicated to supporting farmers who are willing to implement those conservation practices but lacking the technical support. A pilot project financed by Nestlé, has started in one of the leading arable region of France: the Santerre (North of France). This pilot is impacting a core of more than 30 farmers producing: potatoes, sugar beet, wheat and vegetables, mainly arable crops produced for industrials purpose. It impacts a total surface of approximately
Pillar two of focuses on developing new financial tools to accelerate farmers’ agricultural transition. We believe that if we want to be able to bring change at a larger scale for the agricultural sector, and increase the number of farmers practicing such a responsible agriculture, we need to create innovative financial tools that can accelerate change by reducing the perceived risk associated to it. As conservation practices are storing carbon in soil (Ademe, 2014) we are developing a methodology to economically value the ecosystem services generated by farmers’ agricultural practices that store carbon in the soil. This will allow for farmers to receive a complementary income for their agricultural practices.
Learn more at the Living Soils website
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