Dengo has partnered with ReSeed to add its cacao farmers in Brazil to ReSeed’s carbon credit program, allowing carbon credit buyers to support regenerative agriculture and supplement farmer income.
By adding Dengo’s farmers to ReSeed’s Farm Fresh Carbon Credits platform, smallholder farmers may achieve an additional revenue stream by selling carbon credits. According to the companies, 50% of carbon credit sales will go directly to farmers, and 30% will go to on-the-ground farmer support teams.
Carbon credit purchases have become a common practice for corporations looking to lower their emissions impact. Credits may be bought as a way to offset a company's own emissions impact, with financing going towards carbon-reducing projects such as reforestation and ecosystem restoration, or, in this case, regenerative agriculture.
This partnership is expected to contribute to reducing negative impacts of the chocolate industry, which currently has the second-highest environmental footprint of all foods. The majority of this impact stems from deforestation, and implementing regenerative agriculture techniques may decrease this impact while also improving soil health and crop yields.
While carbon markets have grown in recent years, agricultural credits have reportedly lagged behind other types, representing about 3% of overall credit volume between 2013 and 2022.
The USDA recently released a report showing the untapped potential of carbon markets to benefit both farmers and companies working to achieve emissions reductions goals. The report was delivered under the Growing Climate Solutions Act, legislation that supports a third-party certification process for farmers interested in selling carbon credits.
ReSeed’s carbon market exclusively provides agriculture-related carbon credits, and the company also measures and verifies the amount of carbon stored in soil or drawn down from the atmosphere in various projects.
"Currently, less than 1% of carbon credits sold on the market are sourced from agriculture," said Vasco van Roosmalen, CEO and co-founder of ReSeed. "We're thrilled to partner with Dengo farmers to increase that number. The direct incentives from the carbon market to smallholder producers could be the push needed to catalyze reforestation and preservation efforts in the Amazon rainforest and Atlantic Forest – helping reduce deforestation rates while also initiating an explosion of reforestation."
