Programs

  • Ecosystem Services Market Program

    ECOSYSTEM SERVICES MARKET CONSORTIUM (ESMC) IS A NON-PROFIT, MEMBER-BASED ORGANIZATION LAUNCHING A NATIONAL SCALE ECOSYSTEM SERVICES MARKET PROGRAM FOR AGRICULTURE TO RECOGNIZE AND REWARD FARMERS AND RANCHERS FOR THEIR ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES TO SOCIETY. ESMC MEMBERS REPRESENT THE SPECTRUM OF THE AGRICULTURAL SECTOR SUPPLY CHAIN WITH WHOM WE ARE SCALING SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURAL SECTOR OUTCOMES, INCLUDING INCREASED SOIL CARBON, REDUCED NET GREENHOUSE GASES, AND IMPROVED WATER QUALITY AND WATER USE CONSERVATION. (CONTINUED ON SCH O)DURING 2023, WE CONTINUED TO SUCCESSFULLY ENGAGE AGRICULTURAL VALUE CHAIN AND SUPPLY CHAIN PARTNERS IN MARKET PROGRAM INNOVATION, TESTING, AND REFINEMENT TO FURTHER BUILD OUR PROGRAM. REFINEMENTS TO PROTOCOLS, DATA COLLECTION, PROJECT DEVELOPMENT AND PARTNERSHIP ENGAGEMENT MODELS PROCEEDED, AS DID EFFORTS TO TEST AND EMBED ADVANCED TOOLS AND TECHNOLOGIES INTO OUR PLATFORM. THE RESULTS INCLUDE CONTINUED PROGRAMMATIC STREAMLINING AND ACHIEVEMENT OF CRITICAL COST-EFFICIENCIES TO ENABLE SCALED PROGRAM OPERATIONS. WITH THE GENEROUS SUPPORT OF A GRANT FROM THE FOUNDATION FOR FOOD AND AGRICULTURE (FFAR) AND FROM MANY ADDITIONAL FUNDERS, MEMBERS, AND COLLABORATORS, WE HAVE ACHIEVED CRITICAL PROGRESS SINCE LAUNCHING OUR PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP IN 2019 AND OUR MARKET PROGRAM IN 2022. WE LAUNCHED 5 NEW PROJECTS WITH PARTNERS ACROSS 6 ESMC PROGRAM REGIONS. ENROLLMENT IS ONGOING, BUT TARGETS OVER 300,000 ACRES ACROSS MUCH OF THE UNITED STATES, PARTICULARLY IN THE SOUTHEAST AND CHESAPEAKE BAY REGIONS. EXISTING PROGRAMS IN THE SOUTHERN PLAINS, NORTHERN PLAINS AND CANADA ALL SAW INCREASED ENROLLMENT, ENGAGING NEW PRODUCERS AND PARTNERS ACROSS THESE GEOGRAPHIES. ESMC HAS SUCCESSFULLY GENERATED SCOPE 3 CARBON OUTCOMES FROM THESE PROJECTS AND CONTINUES TO ENGAGE FOOD AND AG COMPANIES ACROSS THE SUPPLY CHAIN TO SUPPORT THEM. NEW PROJECTS LAUNCHING IN 2023 THROUGH 2024 INCLUDE PROGRAM EXPANSION IN LIVESTOCK GRAZING SYSTEMS (BEEF) AND DAIRY. PILOT PROJECTS WILL ALLOW ESMC TO REFINE PROGRAM PARAMETERS AND EVENTUALLY SCALE TO DELIVER OUTCOMES TO THE MARKET. ESMC HAS PARTNERED WITH NEW MODELING SERVICE PROVIDERS AND IS DEVELOPING PROTOCOLS FOR THESE SYSTEMS. WE INCORPORATED ADDITIONAL ENHANCEMENTS AND INNOVATIONS IN PROGRAM OPERATIONS AND SYSTEMS OF OUR NATIONAL SCALE, HARMONIZED, STANDARDIZED ECOSYSTEM SERVICES MARKET PROGRAM. THE DEVELOPMENT PHASE OF OUR PROJECTS HAS GENERATED SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENTS IN EFFICIENCIES AND COST REDUCTIONS FOR EVERY STEP OF THE PROGRAM, WHICH IS GRAPHICALLY DISPLAYED IN THE FOLLOWING PROCESS DIAGRAM. ESMC'S V9.0 CROPLANDS PROTOCOL WAS UPDATED, EXPANDED, AND IMPLEMENTED FOR 2023 CROPLAND PROJECTS TO INCLUDE NEW CROP TYPES, SUCH AS COTTON AND NEW REGIONS, SUCH AS SOUTHERN CANADA (MANITOBA AND SASKATCHEWAN). 2023 PROJECTS WERE SUBMITTED IN Q1 2024 FOR VALIDATION, VERIFICATION, AND CERTIFICATION BY SUSTAINCERT WITH RESULTS AND APPROVAL EXPECTED IN Q4 2024. SIX CROPLAND PROJECT PRODUCERS PARTICIPATED IN THE VALIDATION/ VERIFICATION AUDIT PROCESS THAT REQUIRES RANDOMLY SELECTED AUDITS. THE SUSTAINCERT AUDIT ASSESSES PROJECT DESIGN, PROTOCOL, AND CULMINATES IN IMPACT UNITS GENERATED ON THE VIVID PLATFORM. A SIGNIFICANT REVISION OF ESMC'S INTEGRATED PROTOCOL (V9.0) WAS STARTED IN Q3 2024 TO SIMPLIFY AND STREAMLINE THE PROTOCOL TO MAKE DATA ENTRY BURDENS LOWER FOR PRODUCERS, ADHERE TO NEW RULES FROM STANDARD BODIES SUCH AS GREENHOUSE GAS PROTOCOL AND IMPROVE DOCUMENTATION AROUND PROCESSES LIKE QUALITY CONTROL AND QUALITY ASSURANCE. ESMC IS ALSO DEVELOPING PROTOCOLS FOR GRAZING SYSTEMS (LIVESTOCK) AND BIODIVERSITY IN WHICH ESMC WILL DEVELOP A METRIC AND PROCESS BY WHICH BIODIVERSITY CAN BE MONITORED OVER TIME ON AGRICULTURAL LAND. THE ESMC MMRV (MEASUREMENT MONITORING REPORTING VERIFICATION) PLATFORM UNDERWENT SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENT UPDATES, IN TERMS OF NEW FEATURES, AN IMPROVED USER EXPERIENCE AND MORE PERFORMANT WEB APPLICATION, API INTEGRATIONS, DATA PORTABILITY AND ACCESSIBILITY, AND MULTI-MODEL CAPABILITY (UTILIZING BOTH DNDC AND ECOSYSTEM MODELS TO GENERATE OUTCOMES). ADDITIONALLY, ESMC DEVELOPED SOFTWARE FOR AUTOMATED LCA EMISSION FACTOR GENERATION AND DATA ENRICHMENT, WHILE ALSO PRODUCING VERIFIED OUTCOMES WITH THIS DATA. WITH THE AGI API INTEGRATION, ESMC HAS BEGUN UTILIZING MACHINE DATA, GENERATED FROM THE TRACTOR CAB, AND MAPPED TO ESMC'S DATA STANDARD TO ENABLE INCREASED AUTOMATION OF DATA ENTRY (AND STORAGE IN THE MMRV DATABASE). AS WE TEST MORE ACRES UTILIZING MACHINE DATA, ESMC WILL ANALYZE THE DATA TO GENERATE USEFUL INSIGHTS ON THE POTENTIAL OF THIS TECHNOLOGY TO SCALE THE DATA ENTRY NEEDED FOR GHG REPORTING. ESMC HAS ALSO BEGUN WORK TO AUTOMATE WATER QUALITY IMPACT GENERATION (CO-DEVELOPING A PYTHON SDK WITH TETRATECH) FOR EVENTUAL INTEGRATION AS A MODULE WITHIN THE ECO HARVEST MMRV. IN TERMS OF SOIL STRATIFICATION AND SAMPLING WE HAVE DEVELOPED A TOOL FOR AUTOMATICALLY GENERATING SOIL SAMPLING POINTS FROM A FIELD BOUNDARY (UTILIZING A STRATIFICATION ALGORITHM PREVIOUSLY DEVELOPED THROUGH A PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN ESMC AND OURSCI). ADDITIONALLY, WE HAVE BUILT DATA INTEGRATION WITH ANOTHER THIRD-PARTY SOIL STRATIFICATION AND SOIL SAMPLER EARTHOPTICS, WHILE ALSO IMPLEMENTING A PROJECT LEVEL STRATIFICATION APPROACH AND MAKING PROGRESS TO INCREASE SOIL SAMPLING EFFICIENCY AND REDUCE PROGRAMMATIC COST. THE ESMRC TEAM WORKED TO ADVANCE AND IMPLEMENT NUMEROUS MEMBER-APPROVED RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS FOCUSING ON SOIL ORGANIC CARBON, GHGS, WATER, AND BIODIVERSITY DURING 2023. - ESMRC MADE SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS ON THE ADVANCED SOIL CARBON QUANTIFICATION TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT PROJECT, WHICH FOCUSES ON THE IDENTIFICATION, ASSESSMENT, TESTING, AND DEVELOPMENT OF ADVANCED TOOLS AND TECHNOLOGIES TO MORE EFFICIENTLY AND COST-EFFECTIVELY MEASURE AND QUANTIFY CHANGES TO SOIL CARBON AND AVOIDED OR REDUCED GHGS. - ESMC REVISED THE CROPLAND SOIL SAMPLING PROTOCOL TO REDUCE THE DENSITY OF SAMPLING REQUIRED WHILE STILL MAINTAINING 90% CONFIDENCE THAT SOIL SAMPLE RESULTS WILL INFORM BASELINE SOC REQUIRED FOR MODELING. ESMC HAS WORKED WITH THE TECHNICAL WORKING GROUP AND EARTHOPTICS TO REFINE AND REVIEW THESE PROTOCOL CHANGES. REDUCTION IN SOIL SAMPLING NEEDS HAS REDUCED LABOR, COST AND ROOM FOR ERROR IN THESE PROCESSES. - THE ALTERNATIVE SCOPE 3 WATER QUALITY QUANTIFICATION TOOL EVALUATION PROJECT COMPLETED A TECHNICAL EVALUATION OF POTENTIAL WATER QUALITY QUANTIFICATION MODELS AND TOOLS TO MEET SCOPE 3 CORPORATE SUPPLY CHAIN REPORTING NEEDS. BASED ON PROJECT RESULTS, ESMRC HAS DEVELOPED A SIMPLIFIED WATER QUALITY AND QUANTITY CALCULATOR TOOL THAT COULD BE UTILIZED VIA SPREADSHEET. ESMC IS CURRENTLY WORKING WITH TETRATECH TO INTEGRATE THE PLET WATER QUALITY TOOL (DEVELOPED FOR EPA) INTO THE ESMC MMRV SO THAT WATER QUALITY OUTCOMES WILL AUTOMATICALLY BE GENERATED WITH CARBON OUTCOMES. THIS IS EXPECTED TO BE LIVE IN Q1 2025. -ESMRC COMPLETED, IN PARTNERSHIP WITH A CONSULTANT, A REPORT ON THE CURRENT STATUS OF BIODIVERSITY MARKETS, AS WELL AS DEVELOPING A PILOT PROJECT WITH PARTNER NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS TO TEST A BIODIVERSITY ACCOUNTING METRIC. ESMC IS WORKING WITH TETRATECH AND THE ESMC TECHNICAL WORKING GROUP TO DEVELOP A FRAMEWORK FOR BIODIVERSITY MEASUREMENT AND MONITORING THAT WILL BE COMPLIANT WITH SBTN AND OTHER STANDARDS IN THIS SPACE. -ESMC PARTNERED WITH NUMEROUS COMMUNITY-BASED ORGANIZATIONS TO FURTHER ITS OUTREACH EFFORTS TO HISTORICALLY UNDERSERVED PRODUCERS. THIS WORK INCLUDES WEBINAR SERIES WITH PARTNERS, Q&AS WITH INTERESTED PRODUCERS, AND PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT WITH COMMUNITY-BASED ORGANIZATIONS.
    Geographies
    Not indicated
    Dates
    Jan 1, 2023 – Dec 31, 2023
    Source
    990
    No causes provided
    No populations provided
    –
    $3M