The Potential of Soil in Combating Climate Change

A potential solution to global climate challenges may lie beneath our feet, as soil possesses the capacity to store over three times the amount of carbon currently present in the atmosphere.

However, approximately 45% of the Earth’s soil is dedicated to agricultural use, and a significant portion of farmland—up to 30%—has experienced carbon loss due to unsustainable land management techniques.

Regenerative Agriculture and the Need for Measurement

Transforming agricultural land into an effective carbon sink requires farmers to adopt regenerative agriculture practices. These include minimizing tillage, implementing cover crops, and enhancing crop rotations and biodiversity.

Effective management necessitates accurate measurement, and this is where Yard Stick plays a crucial role.

“Soil sequestration represents a powerful carbon removal technology,” stated Chris Tolles, CEO of Yard Stick. “But its effectiveness hinges on high-quality science and technology for precise measurement.”

Challenges in Quantifying Regenerative Agriculture

Accurately quantifying regenerative agriculture presents considerable challenges, and measuring soil carbon is particularly complex.

The conventional method, dry combustion, is labor-intensive. It involves scientists collecting soil samples across vast areas and transporting them to laboratories for analysis, where the soil is burned to determine carbon content.

“This process is not readily scalable,” Tolles explained. “A measurement technology capable of overcoming this bottleneck is essential.”

Yard Stick: A Novel Approach to Soil Carbon Measurement

Yard Stick aims to provide that technology – a portable, hand-held soil probe designed to measure carbon levels directly on-site.

The Massachusetts-based startup originated from research at the Soil Health Institute, supported by a $3.25 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy program, which focuses on bringing pro-social technologies to market.

Four soil experts – Dr. Christine Morgan, Kevin Meissner, Yufeng Ge, and Alex McBratney – collaborated to develop the probe, utilizing spectral analysis, resistance sensors, machine learning, and agricultural statistics to calculate soil carbon content.

Tolles is responsible for transitioning the product from academic research to commercial availability.

How the Yard Stick Probe Works

The probe is connected to a hand-held drill. A camera at the tip captures wavelengths reflected from organic carbon using VisNIR spectrometry.

Resistance sensors measure the force required to drill into the soil, determining its density.

Combining these inputs with sophisticated algorithms and statistical analyses, Yard Stick calculates carbon levels without the need for soil removal and laboratory combustion.

“This allows for faster sampling and significantly lower costs,” Tolles said. “Consequently, it enables a more accurate assessment of carbon stocks due to increased sampling density.”

Current Partnerships and Business Model

Yard Stick is currently collaborating with several major food companies involved in regenerative agriculture pilot programs across the United States.

The company does not intend to sell directly to farms, but rather to work with project developers, such as these companies, to validate the probe’s reliability and introduce it to farmers.

Yard Stick plans to offer a data measurement service, rather than selling the hardware itself.

“Our customers are not interested in owning a spectrometer,” Tolles noted. “Even if we simplified it, they wouldn’t know how to utilize it effectively.”

Yard Stick provides on-site measurements and delivers reports to farmers and stakeholders, contextualizing the data and charging on a per-acre basis.

Tolles envisions a future where the device is user-friendly enough for anyone with basic training to operate, reducing reliance on Yard Stick employees.

By 2022, Yard Stick aims to measure 200,000 acres using a few thousand probes.

The Importance of Data Sharing

Increased data collection, and crucially, data sharing, is vital for addressing climate change.

“We must acknowledge the limitations of current economic systems, which often discourage information sharing,” Tolles said. “There’s a risk that valuable data will be withheld, benefiting only large agricultural corporations.”

Competition and Future Outlook

Other early-stage companies are also entering the soil carbon market, including LaserAg (laboratory-based analysis) and CloudAgronomics (satellite-based remote sensing).

However, Tolles believes Yard Stick’s primary competition is the vast majority of farms that currently do not measure or manage their carbon stores.

“Our core mission is to prevent catastrophic climate change,” Tolles concluded. “Therefore, we actively encourage competition.”