A NEW product farmers can use to store carbon in agricultural soil has been launched by Loam Bio following years of research and development.
The company’s CarbonBuilder seed inoculum and SecondCrop carbon projects have passed development stage and are now ready to be used on farms in Australia.
The company was founded in 2019 by Guy Hudson, Tegan Nock, Mick Wettenhall and Guy Webb, who developed a microbial seed coating able to enhance a plant’s natural ability to store carbon in the soil.
“The reality is carbon has been slowly declining in cropping soil globally to around 60 percent since the start of industrial agriculture,” Mr Webb said.
“Loam now provides a solution to reverse that.
“This year we’re moving from pre-commercial to commercial and launching our products in Australia where we will work with a limited number of farmers to help them gain value from our products and services.”
Ms Nock said CarbonBuilder technology was a first of its kind and she was excited to get it into the hands of farmers.
“This is a simple product that farmers can apply in the agricultural system enabling them to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it stably in soil,” she said.
“There’s not been a technology like it in the marketplace before, and it presents a unique value proposition for farmers.”
Loam Bio, formally known as Soil Carbon Company, managed to raise more than $40 million in capital a year ago and is currently partnered with farmers for its SecondCorp carbon projects.
“Providing farmers with more transparent carbon projects options and new technologies will enable the greatest agronomic and climate outcomes,” Mr Webb said.
“Carbon is the only commodity that you get paid for, that doesn’t leave the farm gate.“The carbon stays in the soil and continues to benefit your faming practise.”
Co-Founder Guy Hudson said the products used microbial technology and this enabled greater volumes of carbon to be stored in soils for longer periods of time.
“Increasing the quantity and quality of carbon units farmers can produce per hectare, makes participating in carbon projects more economically valuable for farming enterprises,” he said.
“Following many years of product research and development, we’re now focused on getting our products out on farm.”
Ms Nock said Loam’s CarbonBuilder technology and SecondCrop carbon projects had been launched in tandem to increase transparency, economic value, and maximise the benefits of increased soil carbon delivered back to the farm enterprise.
“SecondCrop is Loam’s carbon farming program which enables more farmer friendly pathways to enter carbon projects with greater support and more flexibility,” Ms Nock said.
“It combines Loam’s microbial technology and a farmer-friendly carbon project offering to achieve the greatest agronomic and climate outcomes.”