A national scale, farmer and rancher focused Ecosystem Services Market Program launched in 2017 has recently entered a new phase of activity with plans to scale nationwide by 2022. In late February the program launched the Ecosystem Services Market Consortium (ESMC) which will pilot its market-based protocols to measure and monetize improved soil carbon, net changes in greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and improved water quality and water use from US agriculture across the country.

With a focus of building soil health and increasing the resilience and ecosystem service impacts of US working agricultural lands, ESMC will enable and encourage farmers and ranchers to adopt and sustain conservation management practices to improve soil health, reduce GHG emissions, and improve water quality and reduce water use. Joined by 13 Founding Members including major US food and beverage corporations, conservation and environmental NGO’s and a major agricultural member organization, ESMC has begun piloting on 50,000 acres of rangeland and pastureland in the Southern Great Plains, and with Founding members will engage at least 3 more major pilots in 2019 followed by several more in 2020.

ESMC founding members include ADM, Bunge, Cargill, General Mills, Indigo Agriculture, McDonald’s USA, the Nature Conservancy, the American Farmland Trust, The Noble Research Institute LLC, and the Soil Health Institute.  Members joining at a Legacy Level include Mars, Incorporated, the American Farmland Trust, the National Association of Conservation Districts, and the National Farmers Union.

With both demand-side and supply-side market participants engaged in ESMC’s launch and planning large-scale pilots, learn how the ESMC will meet existing and future corporate needs for Scope 1, 2 and 3 GHG mitigation and water risk outcomes in a scalable, cost-effective manner that addresses past market-based challenges.

ESMC’s recently appointed Executive Director, Debbie Reed, will present an engaging webinar and dialogue to enable participants to learn more about this bold project, and its prospects for success in a notoriously challenging market-place.