Yard Stick PBC provides on-site measurement of soil carbon in agricultural fields and offers data and analytics to track progress in soil carbon projects.
Yard Stick's business model focuses on measurement services rather than selling hardware or software directly.
Measuring soil carbon is crucial not only for selling carbon offsets but also for assessing climate impacts, and Yard Stick uses cost-effective in situ reflectance spectroscopy for accurate real-time data.
Deep dives
YardStick PBC and Soil Carbon Measurement
YardStick PBC, a measurement backbone for soil carbon, provides on-site measurement of soil carbon in agricultural fields. Their software package offers data and analytics to help stakeholders measure and track progress in soil carbon projects. The company focuses on measuring successful projects and serving intermediary customers such as project developers and brands. They are involved in the voluntary carbon market and also work with insetters, like Organic Valley, to measure the carbon intensity of their agricultural supply chains. YardStick's business model is centered around measurement services rather than selling hardware or software directly.
The Importance of Soil Carbon and Challenges
Soil organic carbon, derived from organic sources, plays a vital role in the global carbon cycle. Industrial agricultural practices, such as tillage and the overuse of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, have led to a decline in soil carbon stocks. Additional challenges arise from natural respiration of organic carbon stocks as the planet warms. YardStick focuses on measuring soil carbon stocks and changes, regardless of specific agricultural practices. The company acknowledges the slow rate of change in soil carbon and follows a measurement and re-measurement window lasting several years to accurately assess progress.
Market Focus and Business Model of YardStick
YardStick's primary market includes offset and voluntary carbon markets, with project developers and brands as their customers. They help these customers measure and track soil carbon to support their offsetting efforts or goals of reducing carbon intensity. In addition, YardStick serves other markets such as land funds that aim to regenerate soils for appreciation. They also collaborate with the research community for studies on low carbon intensity practices. YardStick's business model revolves around providing measurement services on a per-acre basis, embodying a measurement experience rather than selling hardware or software directly.
Importance of measuring soil carbon
Measuring soil carbon is crucial for various reasons, including the opportunity to sell carbon offsets and the need for accurate data to assess climate impacts. Yardstick, a company focused on climate solutions, uses in situ reflectance spectroscopy to measure soil carbon. This method is cost-effective and provides real-time data without the need for sending samples to a lab.
Government involvement and funding
Yardstick has been involved in government-funded programs, such as the USDA Climate Smart Commodities initiative, which aims to demonstrate low carbon commodities. The USDA awarded Yardstick multiple contracts to measure soil carbon across various agricultural projects. Additionally, Yardstick recently secured $12 million in a Series A funding round led by Toyota Ventures, indicating growing interest and support for their soil carbon measurement services.
Chris Tolles is the CEO and Co-founder of Yard Stick PBC, which stands for Public Benefits Corporation. Yard Stick is aiming to be the measurement backbone for soil carbon. Their handheld hardware enables onsite measurement of soil carbon in agricultural fields, and their software package provides data and analytics that help stakeholders in a soil carbon project to measure and track progress. As Chris tells it, the Yard Stick co-founders got to know one another in the MCJ member community during the pandemic lockdowns in 2020. MCJ is a proud multi-time investor in Yard Stick. Even so, we still learned a ton from Chris during this conversation.
Chris highlighted that while MRV technologies are often associated with carbon credit sales, the voluntary carbon market is just one avenue for soil carbon project development. Another that is seeing strong early traction is insetting, where food and agriculture companies are beginning to measure an attempt to reduce the carbon intensity of their own agricultural supply chains. They aren't selling credits; rather, they're starting to make progress on directly reducing the emissions of how their food is grown, which is great news. Chris charts his background and experience and then explains what soil carbon is and why it matters, helping to put the efforts that Yard Stick is making into the context of the broader global carbon cycle.
Episode recorded on Oct 13, 2023 (Published on Dec 7, 2023)
In this episode, we cover:
[02:38]: Chris's background and pivoting from consumer products to climate
[08:43]: Origins of Yard Stick in the MCJ Community
[11:59]: How Chris and co-founders came to focus on soil organic carbon
[14:43]: Cristine Morgan's research background as Yard Stick CSO
[18:50]: Overview of soil organic carbon and key drivers of soil carbon stock losses
[27:46]: Issues with how claims have been measured historically
[33:39]: Why remote sensing technology is insufficient
[35:29]: Yard Stick's technology and approach
[42:50]: The company's business model
[46:00]: Addressing criticism of soil carbon and other nature-based solutions
[51:49]: Soil carbon support in Inflation Reduction Act and future policy
[56:00]: Yard Stick's $18 million grant from the USDA
[58:19]: Their recent $12M Series A round led by Toyota Ventures
[01:00:00]: Reckoning with racial injustice and land theft in agriculture
[01:02:04]: Encouraging climate companies to address complex social issues
