Listen to this articleBelow is our recent interview with Pierre Kim, Commerical Director, North America at Agricarbon:
Q: Could you provide our readers with a brief introduction to your company?
Soil is one of the planet’s largest natural carbon sinks, storing more carbon than the atmosphere and all plant life combined. Healthy soil not only supports food production and biodiversity but also plays a critical role in regulating how the landscape responds to increasingly extreme weather. By improving the way we manage land, we can increase the amount of carbon captured and stored in soils, while enhancing resilience and productivity for farmers.
Global brands and organizations all over the world are deploying soil carbon management strategies and working with us to measure the outcomes. This is an essential foundation for the transition to regenerative agriculture – a set of farming practices that restore soil health, boost biodiversity, and tackle climate change.
By quantifying carbon stocks accurately using our deep-core sampling method and automated lab analysis, we provide high-integrity, high-volume data that accurately quantifies carbon stored in soil. Our clients need this data to see which farming practices are restoring carbon to the soil and to report the benefits that contribute to meeting their climate goals.
Our mission is simple but transformative: make direct soil carbon measurement affordable and scalable, so that food and agriculture companies can ground their climate claims in evidence, not estimates, as they restore soil health, biodiversity and resilience across agricultural landscapes worldwide.
Q: What is the best thing about your company that people might not know about?
Agricarbon has solved the problem of delivering affordable soil sampling and lab testing at scale. The conventional system of soil sampling and lab testing is well known to be too costly, complex and inconsistent to scale. Industrial innovation by Agricarbon has reduced the cost, removed complexity and dramatically improved the consistency of soil carbon measurements across geographies, farming systems and soil types.
Co-founded by farmer, Stewart Arbuckle, the company is built on a real and lived need to access an affordable and reliable way of measuring soil carbon. Stewart quickly identified a gap in the market for this innovation while looking for a reliable and affordable solution himself, and together with co-founder Annie Leeson, they developed Automated Soil Carbon Analysis in partnership with leading soil scientist Helaina Black.
Today, the technology is powering the world’s largest issuances of soil carbon credits – an environmental asset that rewards farmers and land managers for practices that increase the amount of carbon stored in soil. It’s also helping to deliver high impact carbon-removal projects within food and farming supply chains by accurately reporting soil carbon changes at scale. This data doesn’t just quantify carbon, it unlocks new financing for regenerative agriculture, giving farmers and brands the confidence to invest in practices that restore soil health and help secure a healthier planet for the long term.
Q: What makes you the best choice? How are you unique?
In the race to develop measurement solutions to quantify and monitor the progress of soil carbon restoration, Agricarbon is the only company in the world tackling the vital need for primary data – direct measurement of real soil as opposed to estimates or models – as an essential foundation for the entire industry to base its future. Any cursory search on the internet for information on the importance of soil carbon will reveal the imperative for more primary data, at lower cost, and higher quality, like this recent example from leading scientists.
How did we achieve this? We combined soil science with industrial engineering, radically reinventing the technology and processes used to carry out the leading methodology for analysis of organic carbon in the soil (it’s called elemental analysis by dry combustion). Agricarbon’s industrialization has made direct measurement affordable, globally scalable and completely consistent for any sample taken from any soil, anywhere in the world.
When Agricarbon measures a ton of carbon under range lands in Montana, it’s the same as a ton of carbon under wheat fields in England, or under cherry trees in Spain. Unlike model-based estimates, this generates ground-truth data which delivers credible and audit-ready evidence to reveal the real success of new farming practices and support future-proof carbon claims in the supply chain. By improving the consistency of ‘big data’ accumulated on a grand scale, Agricarbon helps the industry to see clear answers more quickly with lower risk, and lower cost. This is what’s needed to instill confidence in carbon programs around the world and to secure a durable role for farming as a valuable climate solution.
Q: Who is your ideal client and why?
We work with an array of clients in 19 countries around the world including food and beverage businesses, carbon project developers, farming co-operatives, agricultural businesses, governments and standards bodies. This means that we understand the diverse ways soil
carbon data underpins success and have experience operating across different geographies, soil types and farming systems.
Recently, we were delighted to see our work playing a part in the verification of the Agreena Carbon Project. By passing this milestone, Agreena is now issuing 2.3 million Verra-verified carbon credits that are not only readily available, but deliver immediate, measurable climate impact – marking a significant moment for regenerative agriculture. This is important as it shows how soil carbon sequestration can be measured, verified and trusted enough to underpin a value source of diversified income for farmers, on a grand scale.
Q: What can we expect from you in next 6 months? What are your plans?
We have just expanded into North America, opening a new processing facility in South Carolina that allows us to serve customers in the Americas and all over the world! It’s a very exciting time for Agricarbon, and ensures that the credibility of soil carbon removals can be assured with real measurements, anywhere that farming has the opportunity to make a difference.
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