May 2026 ESMC Newsletter

Beyond Carbon: Expanding Opportunities for Water Quality and Biodiversity Outcomes with EcoHarvest

Healthy soils do more than store carbon. They also reduce nutrient loss, improve water infiltration, support habitat, and strengthen agricultural resilience. By measuring multiple environmental outcomes generated through best management practices (such as planting cover crops, reducing tillage and increasing nutrient management), we can help participating producers and our members capture a more complete picture of environmental value.

Although carbon outcomes remain at the core of our work, our members and buyers have been increasingly looking beyond carbon to help them address broader environmental impacts across their supply chains. In response to this growing demand, we’ve expanded our capabilities to quantify and deliver water quality and biodiversity outcomes. This has always been at the heart of our program, but new developments over the past year allow us to quantify these outcomes and stack them with carbon outcomes—which benefit both project investors as well as producers. Investors get higher returns, and producers can be paid more per acre. To support this expanded approach, we developed specialized tools that enable rigorous, science-based quantification of these additional ecosystem outcomes.

Launching the Biodiversity Estimation for Agriculture Tool (BEAT)

We recently introduced the Biodiversity Estimation for Agriculture Tool (BEAT), a new framework designed to evaluate biodiversity outcomes associated with agricultural best management practices that are included in EcoHarvest.

BEAT is specifically designed for agricultural biodiversity, enabling precise quantification within an MRV framework, offering stakeholders confidence in measured outcomes for sustainable practices and market participation. As biodiversity becomes an increasingly important component of corporate sustainability strategies and disclosure frameworks, tools like BEAT help create a more transparent and science-based pathway for understanding and valuing biodiversity outcomes generated on farms.

By enabling credible, science-based quantification of biodiversity benefits associated with conservation practices, BEAT allows us to:

• Expand EcoHarvest payments beyond carbon to include biodiversity alongside water quality outcomes
• Provide farmers with new opportunities to be recognized and rewarded for conservation practice implementation
• Help members make more comprehensive, verifiable sustainability claims across their supply chains
• Support more resilient ecosystems by incentivizing practices that enhance habitats

Watch a recent webinar highlighting our work in biodiversity and how we can measure and model biodiversity improvements for producer payments.

Advancing Water Quality Measurement with PLET

Our Pollution Load Estimation Tool (PLET) module enables us to quantify agricultural water quality outcomes at scale. The tool estimates reductions in nutrient and sediment losses resulting from conservation practices and improved land management. By combining regionally relevant data, modeling approaches, and field-level insights, PLET helps translate on-farm practice changes into measurable water quality improvements.

This capability supports companies seeking credible environmental outcomes tied not only to climate goals, but also to watershed health, regulatory priorities, and broader sustainability commitments. Take a look at the opportunities for water quality outcomes through EcoHarvest.

Building the Future of Stacked Environmental Outcomes

Together, carbon, water quality, and biodiversity outcomes represent a more holistic approach to agricultural sustainability. Since the same practices that impact carbon also impact water quality & biodiversity, EcoHarvest allows buyers to stack the outcomes from these practices to maximize both their investment as well as farmer returns. Through our ability to stack these outcomes, we can create additional value opportunities for producers while providing companies with credible, measurable environmental outcomes that align with their evolving sustainability goals. This approach allows farmers and corporates to see impact not only on fields, but the larger supply shed landscape where fields are located.

Biodiversity is increasingly recognized as a core driver of agronomic performance and climate resilience across agroecosystems. Once viewed as an environmental add-on at the margins of farming systems, it is now understood to be central to how soils function, crops grow, and landscapes remain productive over time.

Highlighting ESMC’s Data Systems at RegenerativeNYC

Last month, ESMC’s Doug Adams and Paige Meyer attended RegenerativeNYC to meet partners, members, and engage with leaders across the regenerative agriculture space on the financial, technical, and social dimensions shaping the future of regen ag adoption and scaling. Paige participated in the panel “Trusting Soil Carbon Outcomes to Scale Regenerative Programs” to share our work on advancing stacked environmental outcomes (including carbon, water quality, and biodiversity) alongside fellow panelists from Agricarbon, Cultivo, and Regenerative Organic Alliance.

Watch the panel (and all other presentations) from the event on RegenerativeNYC’s livestream; the panel starts at the 1 hour 53-minute mark.

Meet ESMC Team Members at Upcoming Events

 

We’re pleased to share that ESMC team members will be attending the following upcoming events in 2026. Please let us know if you’ll also attend and wish to set up a time to meet with Doug Adams.

Soil and Water Conservation Society Annual Meeting
July 26-29, 2026 in St. Louis, Missouri
The SWCS conference will feature the latest ideas, technologies, and practices and foster dialogue around their adoption. Through workshops, sessions, symposia, tours, exhibits, and demonstrations, cutting-edge research and practice developments in soil health, water quality, and resource management will be shared. ESMC’s Tapasya Babu will present “Turning Soil Health Practices into Measurable and Monetizable Water Quality Benefits” at the event. Read more and register.

Recent News in Regenerative Ag

American Farmland Trust Develops a Predictive Soil Health Economic Calculator
While soil health practices such as cover crops, no-till, and nutrient management are associated with improvements to water quality, drought resilience, and soil organic matter, some farmers may be reluctant to adopt new practices due to the uncertainty of potential costs of implementing a practice. To address that challenge, AFT, in partnership with USDA NRCS, developed a Predictive Soil Health Economic Calculator (P-SHEC) Tool to use with row crop farmers interested in adopting soil health practices. P-SHEC is a user-friendly online tool that estimates the potential long-term costs and benefits of adopting certain soil health practices, aiming to provide users with better-informed decision-making support. This tool should be used alongside conservation technical assistance and planning. AFT is planning a webinar on June 11 to highlight the tool’s capabilities. Register here.

Louis Dreyfus Company and PepsiCo Expand Regenerative Agriculture Partnership in Saskatchewan
FoodBev Media (May 18)
Louis Dreyfus Company and PepsiCo are partnering on a regenerative agriculture initiative in Saskatchewan aimed at scaling sustainable canola production for ingredients used in PepsiCo products sold across the US and Canada. The program, launched in one of the world’s leading canola-growing regions, is designed to help farmers adopt regenerative and restorative agriculture practices intended to improve soil health, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and support local ecosystems. Read the full article.

Wild Blueberry Farms Across Maine Suffer as Climate Change Upends Growing Seasons
Grist (May 16)
Like lobster rolls, wild blueberries are iconic in Maine. But heat and drought have set the plants back to a point where many small farmers are struggling against reduced yields and increased costs for mulch and irrigation. Read the full article.

From Fertilizer Shocks to Farm Resilience: Why Regenerative Agriculture Matters
World Economic Forum (May 13)
Recent disruptions to global trade and energy systems have once again exposed the fragility of interconnected supply chains that many have long taken for granted. While much of the immediate attention has focused on rising energy prices and disrupted trade routes, the implications for food and agriculture are just as profound. While recent disruptions have brought these issues into sharper focus, many of the underlying challenges facing agriculture are not new. Farmers around the world have long been navigating climate volatility, soil degradation and rising input costs – pressures that predate current geopolitical events and will continue beyond them. The article highlights the work Nestlé (an ESMC member) is undertaking to support its farmers and supply chain partners. Read the full article.

175 Years In, Locke Family Transforms Historic Ranch with Regenerative Farming
Lodi News (May 14)
Nearly two centuries after starting as a cattle ranch amid California’s Gold Rush, Locke Ranch is now a leader in the state’s walnut industry through its focus on regenerative farming practices. The Locke family began growing walnuts in the 1930s and is one of the state’s oldest commercial walnut operations. The ranch, still known as Locke Ranch despite no longer raising cattle, spans 600 acres with 44,000 trees that produce about 2 million pounds of walnuts annually. Read the full article.

Groundswell Filmmakers Launch One Billion Acres Campaign
Morning Ag Clips (May 13)
Ahead of the Cannes Film Festival premiere of their latest movie Groundswell, award-winning documentary filmmakers Josh Tickell and Rebecca Harrell Tickell announce the launch of One Billion Acres, a landmark campaign to accelerate the worldwide transition to regenerative agriculture. Coffee brand Nespresso became the first company to sign the pledge. Read the full article.

Climate Reporting Rules for Food Sector Set High Bar for Regenerative Agriculture
Reuters (April 15)
From the methane belched by billions of farmed animals, to the nitrous oxide that leaches from artificial fertilizers, and the CO2 released when land is cleared for agriculture, land-based industries are among the largest emitters of greenhouse gases. Often referred to as agriculture, forestry and other land use (AFOLU), the sector contributes around 21% of global emissions, making it the third-highest emitting after energy and industry. Yet until now, food and agriculture companies have lacked a consistent and credible way to account for the efforts they are taking in their supply chains to mitigate their climate impacts. Read the full article.