[Disclosure: AgFunderNews’ parent company AgFunder is an investor in Eion.]
Eion—a startup with a patented approach to measuring CO2 removed through enhanced rock weathering (ERW) on farmland—has teamed up with Perdue AgriBusiness in a first-of-its-kind carbon insetting deal that over time it hopes will pave the way for permanent carbon removal at a massive scale.
To-date, says Berkeley-based Eion, carbon markets have been primarily driven by offtake agreements, whereby companies offset their emissions by investing in carbon reduction projects outside their supply chains. Insetting projects, by contrast, integrate within companies’ supply chains to directly reduce their own emissions.
Under the deal with Eion, Perdue grain farmers will initially aim to remove about 3,500 tons of CO2 by applying olivine, a mineral Eion has optimized to weather quickly on farmland across the Mid-Atlantic, said Eion CEO Anastasia Pavlovic: “We see a massive opportunity for ERW to easily incorporate within the agricultural supply chain for the long haul and, to that end, are focused on expanding our portfolio of insetting agreements.
“With approximately 800 million acres of farmland in the US alone, agricultural insetting projects can catalyze the ERW sector toward annual gigaton CO2 removal.”
Soil fingerprinting
Rather than applying ag lime (pulverized limestone or calcium carbonate) to farmland to reduce soil acidity, Eion supplies farmers with a 1:1 replacement: crushed olivine, a mineral mined in Norway by its partner and investor Sibelco.
Rain and soil acidity dissolve the olivine, which increases soil pH, improves soil health, and absorbs CO2 from the atmosphere. Ultimately, it ends up in rivers and makes its way to the ocean, permanently sequestering carbon. Application levels will vary but are typically around one ton per acre.
Founded by Dr. Elliot Chang and Adam Wolf in 2020, Eion calculates the carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere through its mineral weathering process by measuring trace elements in the soil (‘soil fingerprinting’) such as magnesium, chromium, and nickel.
Soil samples are taken before the olivine is applied and then changes in the soil over time are monitored to quantify weathering and the CO2 removed in the process. Typically, 40-70% of the mineral dissolves six to nine months after application, going down to zero after one to four years, when it can be reapplied.
The business case
Eion typically generates revenue by selling carbon credits to companies looking to offset their emissions, with prices generally in the $300-$400 per ton CO2 removed range.
Under the deal with Perdue, said Perdue Agribusiness VP agricultural services Scott Raubenstine, “there are no carbon credits issued. This is an insetting approach. We utilize and support farmers by implementing practices that have carbon removal opportunities, and we pay the farmers to implement those practices and to share that data with us.”
To farmers, meanwhile, it’s an easy sell, as olivine is a 1:1 replacement for ag lime, he said. “Many farmers are liming every two years, whether it’s corn or soybeans, so it’s a natural practice. The olivine increases pH where we need to lower the acidity, and here in the mid-Atlantic, we have higher temperatures, more humidity, more acidic soil, so it’s a great target area for us to launch and scale this product.”
Pavlovic at Eion added: “There are different ways that Perdue could monetize the actual carbon assets, and we have kept that open so that they can decide what that looks like. What we have to do is maintain that the carbon removal is verified in the same ways that carbon offsets are, and make sure that they’re third party audited by the registries and methodologies that exist for offsetting.
“But for the farmer, they get essentially, a reduced cost [for olivine] vs what they would normally pay [for ag lime] in their region.”
But how does Eion make money from this partnership? According to Pavlovic: “The value share looks just like it would in the carbon crediting case, it’s just that it’s not backed by an off taker. So any revenue that Perdue will get from the different types of carbon assets they could generate out of this will flow through to us and the farmer. But they will have more flexibility around what that asset will be over time.”
Raubenstine added: “We’re going over every stage of our supply chain to determine the carbon footprint to produce low carbon refined soybean oil and low carbon chicken. With Eion’s collaboration, we can lower that footprint on the grain that’s produced and measure that with its groundbreaking technology.
“We are the first ever insetting use of enhanced rock weathering within our value chain, and we’re excited about that.”
Scope of the deal
Asked about the scope of the partnership, he said: “This year we’ll have over 2,000 acres that we are trialing here in the mid-Atlantic, and we expect to grow that exponentially. By 2030 we’ve got the opportunity to be on four or five million acres.”
Pavlovic added: “The exciting thing about working with a partner like Perdue is that its agribusiness chain already supports its farmers in a lot of practices such as soil sampling, so existing partners used by Perdue will be able to take the samples that we need.
“When analysis comes back from those partners and commercial labs, we then help quantify the results on the carbon side.”
To get olivine to farms in the US, Eion has partnered with firms such as ag co-op Growmark, which has a vast farmer network, she said. “Scott and I have talked a lot about what retail partners we might bring in in the future to scale some of these programs. But the idea is that we bring it [the olivine] in, and then Scott will work with Perdue’s existing partners to help with the last mile.”
Olivine vs ag lime
If you compare Eion’s olivine to ag lime, it has the same pH mitigation effects, making it a simple swap for farmers, and is more consistent, claimed Pavlovic.
“Conventional lime sources can be quite varied, so there is variability in terms of pH mitigation. The great thing about olivine is that it comes from one source and it’s milled and so we can guarantee there’s not high variability.”
Further reading:
Enhanced rock weathering startup Eion secures $33m carbon removal offtake deal with Frontier
