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Yard Stick is an instant, in-situ soil organic carbon (SOC) and bulk density measurement technology designed primarily for field evaluation of soil carbon stocks and changes.
About
Yard Stick measures soil carbon. The global food system is one of the primary contributors to the climate crisis, making agriculture a key lever for change. Scientists and farmers have known for decades that climate-friendly agricultural practices have the potential to remove atmospheric GHGs at gigaton/year scale. When these practices are adopted, more carbon is stored in soils, improving soil health and fighting climate change. But significant measurement challenges have held soil carbon efforts back - until now. We offer physical testing of soil, as well as data viewing and management platforms. Our offering combines technologies including NIR soil spectroscopy, stratified sampling protocol design algorithms, resistance-based in-situ bulk density measurement, and an integrating data platform which establishes chain of custody for SOC data - a key requirement as regenerative agriculture, environmentally-conscious food systems, and soil carbon efforts mature. By reducing the cost of soil carbon measurement by 90%+, Yard Stick will dramatically expand the opportunities for regenerative practices to simultaneously improve ecosystem health, increase farmer income, and combat climate change. This process will allow distributors in the food system to demonstrably reduce the climate impact of food production. Clear, evidence-based data that can be traced over time is crucial to empower producers and consumers to make informed decisions.
Key Benefits
Yard Stick offers a suite of products and services that benefit growers, food distributors, and consumers alike. Our efficient, affordable measurement technology makes it possible to quantify carbon stocks on more land and allow more growers to increase knowledge of their land. This quantification also has the potential to reward growers for making ecologically-friendly changes to their management practices through voluntary or mandatory carbon crediting systems. Food distributors will have greater insight into suppliers’ growing practices and how they affect the landscape. As practices evolve, Yard Stick offers tools to track these impact changes over time. Precise, traceable data can easily be incorporated into supply chains and inform producers and consumers to make environmentally-conscious decisions.
Applications
Yard Stick empowers growers to make more environmentally-conscious management decisions by working with project developers, food retailers, producers, and ultimately, consumers. A wide range of producers will gain access to efficient soil health measurement services, while further up the supply chain, retailers and distributors will be able to track the effects of agriculture changes and report this information internally and to their consumers.