Bayer launches carbon capture program for farmers in Brazil and usa

The German Bayer launched on Tuesday (21) a pilot program in the United States and Brazil that will pay producers for carbon capture in agricultural areas, becoming the latest company in the sector to try to capitalize on environmental initiatives.
The company seeks to enroll about 1,200 farmers in the first season of the Bayer Carbon Initiative, but aims to expand the proposal in the coming years and ultimately also expand it to other countries, according to executives.
Of the total, about 500 Brazilian farmers were selected by Bayer to participate in the project. They are located in 14 States (RS, SC, PR, SP, MG, MS, GO, MT, RO, TO, PA, BA, PI and MA), with mainly soybean and corn crops.
The initiative is expected to begin in the 2020/21 harvest of Brazil, in about 60,000 hectares. The estimated investment is approximately 5 million euros in the country over three years, the company said in a statement.
The program is the latest in a series of recent initiatives by environmental-focused agricultural companies, amid criticism of companies for the use of harmful chemicals and insufficient work in combating deforestation in Brazil.
In the country, Bayer will have the Brazilian Agricultural Research Company (Embrapa) as a technical partner to build a viable carbon market for farmers.
"This is a market with a lot of potential, but still intangible for Brazilian farmers. This initiative aims to create a basis for a model that works for producers," Rodrigo Santos, president of Bayer's agricultural division for Latin America, said in a statement.
In the U.S., commodities company Cargill had already started a project this year focused on greenhouse gas emissions and fertilizer runoff in Iowa, while agricultural cooperative Land O'Lakes announced last week a partnership with Microsoft to achieve sustainability and technology goals in the food system.
The announcements came after the U.S. Treasury Department clarified questions about a tax benefit designed to stimulate investment in carbon capture and sequestration projects.
Bayer's program requires farmers to use the Climate FieldView digital agriculture platform, in which producers include data on their ecological farming practices. This information can be confirmed by satellite imagery.
Bayer will reward farmers for carbon sequestration with cash payments or credits for purchasing products on the Bayer PLUS platform.
"If farmers are sequestering carbon for the benefit of society and the planet, they should be rewarded for it," Brett Begemann, director of Bayer's agricultural science division, told Reuters.
He preferred not to reveal the total cost of the program, and stated that the value of carbon to be sequestered will be priced by the market.
"At the end of the day, we have to maintain a clear line of vision that this should contribute to Bayer's bottom line and also benefit our shareholders," Begemann said.