EFG’s Soil Carbon event was attended by over 50 EFG farmers last night at Fonthill Farms,
EFG Update (Digby Sowerby, EFG Managing Director)
Digby opened with an update of EFG progress, covering EFG’s current activity in BNG, nutrient mitigation, and soil carbon markets. Digby determined the reasons why working with EFG on soil carbon is worth considering:
- Gain from the experience of EFG’s other members in soil carbon,
- Gain advice and guidance from EFG on approaching soil carbon,
- Pool credits with other members to provide the scale that the market demands,
- Retain control and decision making over your soil carbon,
- Work together to build buyer demand for soil carbon.
Both of EFG’s recommended providers, Ecometric and Regenerate Outcomes, adopt a ‘measure and remeasure’ approach which is essential for understanding and being able to manage soil carbon as part of a wider farming system as well as trading confidently.
Fonthill Farms: A Working Project
The highlight of the evening was Nick Shorter, Group Chief Executive of Velcourt, sharing the detail of Fonthill Farms’ own soil carbon project – a look inside a live, operational scheme on a productive arable farm. Fonthill – an EFG Member – are working with Ecometric, one of EFG’s two recommended providers, using their intensive soil sampling and satellite imagery methodology to generate verified credits annually.
Across 28 fields and 487 hectares, two years of monitoring have recorded 16,142 tCO₂e sequestered. The farming system underpinning those results include: a diverse rotation with legume-rich fallows, large applications of organic manures, cover cropping, and shallower seedbed preparation to reduce soil disturbance. Alongside the carbon project, the estate’s landowners are also pursuing a species recovery programme, including work on several red list species, with grey partridge among the focus, demonstrating how carbon monitoring and wildlife ambition can sit together on a commercial arable farm.
In the Field
The group then walked up to a viewpoint on the farm as James Griffin (Velcourt Farm Manager at Fonthill), explained the farming system. James explained the soil sampling system that has been adopted through the Ecometric soil carbon programme and pointed out beetle banks and herbal leys that form part of the wider system. Key for Velcourt and Fonthill was that soil carbon formed part of the wider business approach and was not a standalone activity. The amount of carbon sequestered by Velcourt over two years is the equivalent to taking 3,500 family cars off the road for a year.
Regenerative Outcomes Model
Jake McNaughton from Regenerate Outcomes, one of EFG’s two recommended soil carbon methodology partners, spoke to how the Regenerate Outcomes programme is structured and measured. Jake highlighted Regenerate Outcome’s work with EFG providing a zero-cost upfront model and providing EFG members with a £1/ha/year income stream for three years if they join the Regenerate Outcomes programme as an EFG member.
Demand in Carbon Markets
Will Close-Brooks is working with EFG on finding buyers for soil carbon. Will provided a strong overview of the soil carbon market both in the UK and internationally, including highlighting a $150m purchase of US-based soil carbon credits earlier in 2026 (at a price of around $60/tn CO2e). Will has worked and facilitated several UK-based soil carbon trades and noted that despite there being few transactions in the UK to date, market interest was set to grow substantially over the coming years, especially as supply becomes better organised through organisations such as EFG.
Local Ales and Fish and Chips
The evening closed with local ales brewed on the farm and local fish and chips.
If soil carbon is something you’d like to explore for your farm, get in touch with the EFG team to find out more.