Remote measurement of carbon sequestration on UK farms
The Innovation Exchange is supporting Bloci, through the InnovateUK KTN Net Zero Catalyst programme to find solutions for measuring carbon sequestration on UK farms. Bloci wishes to engage innovators to find measurement technologies that can improve on periodic samples that have to be sent to a laboratory for analysis. The solution provider will be able to access part of a £25,000 grant award to work with Bloci on delivery of a proof-of-concept trial.
Opportunity
Challenge opens
05/12/2022
Challenge closes
13/01/2023
Benefit
Shortlisted applicants will be given an opportunity to pitch their solution to Bloci. The final successful applicant will deliver a proof-of-concept trial with Bloci, to demonstrate the solution. The project team will receive a £25,000 grant award, to be apportioned between Bloci and the successful applicant, as agreed on a bilateral basis.
Background
Bloci
Bloci provides consultancy and implementation for Blockchain Solutions. It has set up the BlociCarbon marketplace to match UK farmers that need to sell carbon credits, with companies that need to buy carbon credits.
Carbon Credits
Whatever a company does leaves a Carbon Footprint. This can be Offset by purchasing Carbon Credits to become carbon neutral. Bloci sells carbon offsetting credits from reputable and traceable UK organisations which can be independently verified via the Blockchain.
Buying from Bloci encourages UK farmers to become Carbon Positive and selling their carbon credits enables others to be carbon neutral.
Carbon credit self-assessment process
A carbon credit self-assessment process is currently in place for UK farmers. They are administered carbon credits, in return for proven additional farming activity that results in increased carbon sequestration. Additional carbon sequestration activities must be above and beyond the usual operating activity of a given farm. In order to achieve this, a farmer would usually have to invest time and money in a piece of land and may also lose growing or grazing land.
There are three main self-assessment products on the market, that are currently used by approximately sixteen thousand farms across the UK. These are the Farm Carbon Toolkit, Agrecalc and The Cool Farm Tool. All of these kits provide a complete business toolkit for assessing carbon production of the entire farm business and are recognised by the National Farmers Union.
Larger farms have existing bilateral relationships with large carbon credit purchasers, but many smaller farms or landowners don’t have this offtake opportunity.
Current manual process for data collection
The complete business toolkits include manual soil sampling requirements (see figure 1), whereby a farmer must collect ~2-3 soil samples on land that it has designated for additional carbon sequestration activities. Guidance is provided about where to take the sample from but this is not validated and specific geolocations are not provided. These samples are sent away and analysed in a laboratory. Every 12 months, a farmer is required to work through the toolkit again to see if it has gained or lost carbon.
Figure 1: Manual soil sampling process
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