Tell us about your farming operation.

I started full-time farming with my dad when I got out college at the age of 22. My wife and I purchased the farm from my parents in 2010 and have been running it for the past 12 years.

Our farm is located in West Central Illinois close to Greenfield, IL. We farm a 50/50 mix of corn and soybeans, about 300 acres of alfalfa, and have a large birth-to-butcher cattle operation.

We also own our own seed company. Two years ago, we purchased a 100-year-old local seed company from the grandson of the man who originated it.

Which regenerative agriculture practices do you currently use?

We’ve played with cover crops and have gone away from using anhydrous. We now solely use UAN 32 as our source of Nitrogen.

What made you choose to participate in a carbon farming program?

Like most farmers, I looked into carbon farming as another source of income, but I kind of stayed away and sat back since I was leery. I’d heard a lot of horror stories of farmers having to radically change the way they farm, investing in the infrastructure, and then not getting paid what they were supposed to or not getting paid at all.

However, as a farmer, I feel like carbon farming is the direction we’re going in the world. I want to get in on the ground floor. I feel like it’s still early in the whole carbon farming program and carbon trading. So, at the very least, getting involved is getting my feet wet and helping me understand the carbon market better as time goes by. If this continues to grow, I’ll hopefully have a leg up on others joining carbon programs because I’ve been enrolled for a while.

What made you choose CarbonNOW over other carbon farming programs?

I had looked into two or three other carbon farming programs but wasn’t comfortable with the money they required to enter the system–I didn’t have a good feeling about it. I didn’t feel like we were going to get any money back out of them.

Then, one of our seed customers introduced me to Locus AG. He had been involved with Locus AG for quite a few years, enrolled in the CarbonNOW carbon farming program and endorsed it. Also, my wife in her previous life in the seed industry worked with one of the CarbonNOW team members and knew him pretty well. With him working at Locus AG, it gave the company another level of credibility.

The most important aspects of the CarbonNOW program for me are the full program management and having a main team of contacts, along with the guaranteed cash payments and guaranteed minimums. I also like that the program has partnerships that give direct access to buyers.

Another big selling point was the soil sampling and analysis. That’s pretty important, and it’s nice to see verification of if we’re accomplishing something or not.

Tell us your thoughts on Locus AG’s biologicals:

We experimented with a lot of different “bugs” (microbial soil amendments) to try and help the soil do a better job of releasing nutrients; but they had varying results. That’s why we reached out to Locus AG—to find more repeatable results with their biologicals.

This year, with the use of Locus AG products, we had the best yields ever across the board.

How do you see the future of farming changing?

Prices have escalated, along with shortages. It makes farming harder. I used to have a pretty good feeling of “okay, I go to this person to get this product”. You can’t do that anymore.

Now, you have to become a true shopper. You have to actively look and shop around, because someone might have something that nobody else is able to get a hold of and that’s the product you want. It’s your job to go find them instead of people coming out and selling it to you.

How has your experience been with payment through CarbonNOW carbon farming program?

CarbonNOW has guaranteed payments, which gives us more money to pour back into accomplishing our end goals, like relying less on synthetic fertilizers. The carbon farming payments give us back control over our bottom line.

What would you tell farmers who are reluctant to enter a carbon farming program?

I would tell them two things:

Find someone who’s been in the carbon farming program for a year or two and verify that yes, you do actually get guaranteed payments, exactly how you’re getting the money and that there’s a guaranteed minimum; but if you produce more carbon it racks up.
Ensure that the level of what you have to change is minimal in terms of infrastructure or changing the way you want to farm.

“Just look at the differences in carbon farming programs out there. That’s what made CarbonNOW make the most sense for me.” – Mark Boston