Large food companies are looking to lock carbon in soil as a way to meet ambitious emissions goals

Regenerative agriculture practices can sequester carbon in soil, but for companies with complex supply chains, the logistics of moving to such practices can be complicated. Meg Wilcox @WilcoxMeg February 9, 2021 — Jason Johnson, Stonyfield Organic’s farmer relationship manager, fires up the AgriCORE soil sampling tool in a pasture with sweeping views of central Maine’s rolling hillsides at Dostie Farm, an organic dairy. The auger bit whirrs as it slices through clover and grass, spiraling downward into the earth to retrieve a sample from the 650-acre (263-hectare) farm on a blustery October day. It takes Johnson three tries to get it right, and the auger emerges from the ground, encased in a thin layer of dark soil. Leah Puro, agricultural research coordinator at Wolfe’s Neck Center for Agriculture & the Environment , scoops the soil into a tiny foil dish, then pops it into a battery-powered oven to remove its moisture before sending it to Yale University for elemental analysis, one of the most accurate methods for measuring the amount of carbon trapped in the soil. Puro slides another portion of the soil into a portable refractometer to measure the carbon content using a newer method called Quick Carbon […]

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