Focusing first and foremost on farmers and ranchers, Eco-Harvest is designed to encourage regenerative agricultural production systems that create sound social, economic, and environmental outcomes to benefit producers, local communities, consumers, and society.

Participating producers have autonomy to decide which practice changes are best suited to their operation based on a menu of specific practices/systems. Producers pay no fees and do not have to purchase subscriptions or inputs to participate in Eco-Harvest. The measured outcomes of their practices, turned into impact units, are sold to corporate buyers in the agricultural supply chain. Buyers can deliver on their corporate reporting and finance is funneled to producers.

The program recognizes and rewards the invaluable public benefits of producers’ environmental stewardship on private land.

Our standardized and harmonized program was created for agriculture, by agriculture. Eco-Harvest’s unique alliance and business model enables end-to-end collaboration and co-investment across the agricultural value chain. Leveraging the relationships, brain trust, resources, and tools of ESMC’s members, Eco-Harvest uses a channel partner model to scale up not only the program, but also producer enrollment, the ability to deliver on buyer reporting requirements, and ultimately, environmental outcomes that benefit the planet. ESMC-owned measurement, monitoring, reporting & verification technology as well as marketplace infrastructure keep costs down and reduce profit centers along the impact chain, maximizing value for our partners.

ESMC will continue to support practical end-to-end cost efficiencies for our members.

As a non-profit, public-private partnership, ESMC has taken great care in creating an ecosystem market with integrity. Eco-Harvest is built to bring science, speed, and scale to regenerative agricultural systems – ensuring all impact units are high quality. ESMC only recovers costs and does not make a profit, maximizing returns for producers and partners alike.

Eco-Harvest impact units meet agricultural supply chain member commitments to achieve high priority climate change, Net Zero and corporate sustainability goals. This allows members to maximize their investment through high-quality impact units that enable beneficial environmental and ecological outcomes at scale.

Eco-Harvest connects producers to ESMC’s on-the-ground partners for technical and agronomic support. Through the Eco-Harvest platform, buyers and project developers do not have to implement a do-it-yourself approach to soil sampling that takes time and is not conducive to scaling. Buyers know they are getting rigorous and standardized impact units that meet their reporting requirements. Producers feel confident knowing that their impact units will be sold in a harmonized marketplace with multiple buyers and clear standards.

Eco-Harvest’s clear marketplace rules enable standardization and scale to maintain a stable environment for producer participation. Once producers sign their contracts, terms such as annual price and credit claims will not change. ESMC will enable payment stacking at different impact layers to improve the value proposition for growers and allow for more substantial payments, especially as the market program grows.

Eco-Harvest’s market projects are currently operating in specific regions and with specific cropping systems. Current Eco-Harvest market program regions include the Corn and Soy Belt, Northern Great Plains, Southern Great Plains, and Great Lakes regions for corn, soy, wheat, oats, and alfalfa cropping systems. All Eco-Harvest market project as well as Eco-Harvest pilot project eligibility information can be found here.

Read the Eco-Harvest press release from May 2022.