Hello Ag Producers,
I am writing this on Friday morning based on a request letter from Matt Rohlik. He is the operators’ manager for a newer company headquartered in Houston, TX that is currently and intending to remain the top company bringing AI to farms and agriculture. This company is Arva Intelligence. Matt is a very ambitious 40-something farmer who farms 2,500 acres in west central Minnesota and is partners in an operation in Arkansas. Because he is an actual grain farmer and livestock operator he wants to be sure no one takes advantage of his fellow operators when carbon credit money starts flowing. I met him at a think tank meeting late last fall and helped him and a few colleagues conduct grower meetings last winter. At this time he has been in the board meetings and in the boardrooms of most of the major energy firms and other huge firms in the country relaying what he knows about carbon credits, what will be required on them and how these companies are supposed to operate in this new playing field. So far, he has a database much larger and intensive than any other group, as his goal was to make sure the actual farmer captures the maximum amount of dollars that may flow in the future. Now as to how much may flow: MicroSoft last winter bought 1 million carbon credits for $1 billion. Nestle just requested that Matt acquire rights to carbon credits on 1 million acres of corn, SB and wheat in the middle, northern and southern part of the Midwest. They were hoping for a long term contract but Matt knew the entire playing field may remain liquid so they relented.
Now my thoughts on this are that one of our main problems facing producers is the loss of carbon in the soil which acts as a moisture sponge and home to soil microbes. Carbon is our friend and CO2 itself is not a poison. It is needed in larger amounts for plants to grow and be productive. The actual concentration in the atmosphere is miniscule. As to climate change in 2023, the climate has always changed. When I asked a friend who has a PhD in physics and runs the NASA sun observatory, as to whether the earth was warming or cooling, he said the data showed that it was cooling. As to where the extra heat is coming from, the activity of the sun and numerous solar flares is sending more + charged ions towards earth. We also can not rule out human manipulation of the ionisphere with land or spaced based equipment by Russia, China or a group or party within the U.S.
I have attached information on what will be required to enlist in this program. Looking over the list I know that a high percentage of you have already been making these changes in your operation. Currently they are looking for participants in the states of MI, PA, OH, ILL, IA, MN, IN, PA, OK. I don’t think they would refuse to accept acres in NE, Wisc or KS. They have a rough list of the number of acres they would like to enlist from each state. Currently the pay on this is figured to be $25/A on corn and $19 on SB. Where this program differs from other programs I have heard about is that growers who have been using strip or no-till in past seasons can enroll those acres and don’t get excluded for having adopted those management changes in past years.
Why I am writing just a short letter is that Matt was given a deadline for enrollment of ten days. That was three days ago, so we can’t waste time acting on this. Matt is good at sniffing out any gotcha clauses that might be contained in the small print. He thinks this Nestle program is solid and fair.
At this point Matt has not sent out any enrollment sheet or contract. For now, fill out your contact info, state, county, acres hoping to enroll and check or circle what practices you have adopted in recent years that are on the enclosed cropping sheets. Send any enrollment sheets to be and I will forward them to Matt.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
To learn more about Arva Intelligence go HERE.
Their company profile is HERE.
ARTICLES:
Bob Streit is an independent crop consultant and columnist for Farm News. He can be reached at (515) 709-0143 or www.CentralIowaAg.com.