CHESTERFIELD, Mo. – The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) and Ag Data Transparent (ADT) recently announced a new partnership that officials said would bring clarity to U.S. farmers interested in carbon market contracts.

“The rapid expansion of carbon programs and solution providers in agriculture presents immense opportunities, but also significant risks,” said Sean Arians, NCGA vice president of sustainable production and value chain engagement. “As new programs and players enter the space, farmers are left with limited information, unclear standards, and inconsistent program guidelines, making it difficult to evaluate opportunities and confidently participate.”

With the first phase of this partnership project launching in early 2026, Todd Janzen, Janzen Schroeder Ag Law partner and ADT administrator, said this project aims to bring the same level of transparency, simplicity and trust to carbon initiatives in agriculture as it does in its agricultural data sector.

“By building on ADT’s trusted brand and established framework, this new carbon-focused initiative will help farmers make informed decisions, and navigate both existing and emerging carbon programs with confidence,” he said.

Arians told Farm World the partnership conversation started earlier this summer, working with Janzen and the ADT board to work through what phase I of the program would look like.

“Farmers will be able to use this resource for free via the Ag Data Transparent website (agdatatransparent.com),” he said. “Think of it like a Better Business Bureau for carbon markets. This resource will give farmers insight into various programs on the market, how they are structured, and contract details such as length, exit clauses, and payment terms.

“The goal is to create an easy-to-access and independently verified resource that surfaces the most critical information for a broad spectrum of carbon opportunities in the market today in a way that minimizes the guess work for farmers, and allows for easier comparability of programs,” he added. “It is our intention to support improved and informed decision making and participation confidence.”

He said farmers are interested in these programs and even more so in new revenue opportunities for their farms. But he added that today’s challenges with carbon markets include: unfamiliarity with the complexity and technical details associated with carbon markets; significant inconsistencies in contracting terms from one program to the next; and challenges with determining ROI (return on investment) – especially as it relates to enrollment processes, data collection, long-term payment timelines, and sustainable long-term carbon demand pipelines.

He also said there is a lack of transparency in credit valuation over time and value sharing back to the farm; risk of double counting acres due to enrollment of the same fields and practices in multiple programs; and farmers who are considering practice changes, but don’t simultaneously enroll in a program may miss out on the opportunity to participate in the market in the future due to the demand for additionality (which ensures the emission reductions or removals achieved by a project are genuine and wouldn’t have happened without the financial support provided by carbon credits) for many buyers of carbon assets.

“A broader consideration for the industry at large is if we don’t do the work to enable this market to thrive, agriculture will be missing out on the projected multi-billion-dollar carbon market over the next decade,” Arians said. “We want to ensure that agriculture can play a meaningful role in supplying carbon assets in the market to drive the most value back to the farm as possible.”

He said, “The carbon market presents significant opportunities for agricultural innovation, but it also faces challenges that hinder farmer participation and trust. Transparency is a cornerstone for addressing these issues – from contract clarity to equitable credit valuation and transfer.

“By fostering collaboration with stakeholders across the agricultural and carbon sectors, we can build a decision-making tool that empowers farmers, enhances program integrity, and creates lasting value for the entire industry,” he added.

However, Samantha Cave, National Family Farm Coalition (NFFC) strategic content designer, told Farm World NFFC is among many farm advocacy groups standing against carbon markets in agriculture, which include the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition in Washington, D.C., La Via Campesina in Bagnolet, France; Friends of the Earth in San Francisco, Calif.; Food and Water Watch in Washington, D.C.; and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) in Minneapolis, Minn.

“NFFC is not alone in highlighting the harmful impact of carbon markets to independent farmers,” she said. “Carbon should not be turned into yet another commodity privatized for the benefit of corporate profits.”

In an Aug. 8 statement to Farm World, IATP said, “These (carbon) markets have struggled to get off the ground largely because they don’t pay enough for farmers,” adding that “a number of agriculture carbon market developers have gone under in recent years, including Nori (once based in Seattle, Wash.).

“It’s important that farmers understand their legal risk related to these contracts, exactly what they are going to be paid, and the obligations of the buyer and project developer,” IATP added. “As companies back off of environmental-, social- and governance-oriented claims (a framework used to evaluate a company’s sustainability and ethical impact), there has been less demand for carbon credits.”

Cave said there are other solutions to carbon markets for farmers, including “incentivizing conservation and agroecological (designing and managing sustainable food and farming systems) growing practices, providing fair prices for farmers to incorporate these practices, and stronger enforcement of regulations limiting corporate power over our food system.”