Sinking carbon into soil

Farmers, governments and industry organisations alike have been facing increasing pressure to decarbonise, worldwide. This has led to spiking interest in the role soil plays as a carbon sink.

However, not all soil is created equal. Different soils store carbon at different rates, making it difficult to understand soil carbon sequestration.

Toyota Ventures is tackling this issue with their investment in Yard Stick - a low cost, in situ, Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) sensor. Data from Yard Stick’s sensor is expected to help farmers understand which farming methods contribute to greater soil carbon sequestration.

As demand for carbon sequestration technologies grow, Yard Stick’s measurement capability represents a new opportunity to realise decarbonisation targets.

Will this low cost sensing give farmers an easily measured metric confirming their sustainability efforts? Will this change what is being farmed now that we can easily measure the soil impact?