CarbonFarm

Core Features

CarbonFarm uses digital MRV (dMRV) to monitor rice decarbonization projects at scale. Satellite data and machine learning identify farming practices at individual paddy level, while scientific models combine these observations with local conditions to estimate emissions. Key features include:

• Satellite-Based Monitoring: Uses remote sensing to monitor rice paddies at scale, providing near-real-time observations without depending entirely on manual field surveys and farmer records.

• Farming Practice Detection: Proprietary machine-learning models identify practices including water and straw management, allowing project operators to establish baseline practices and detect subsequent changes.

• Paddy-Level Additionality: Compares baseline and project practices at individual paddy level to provide evidence that claimed changes in agricultural practices have occurred. Historical remote-sensing data can also help establish project baselines.

• GHG Emissions Quantification: Estimates emissions using observed farming practices alongside factors such as growing conditions and soil characteristics.

• Scope 3 MRV: Supports rice buyers and other food companies seeking quantified emissions reductions within agricultural supply chains. CarbonFarm is the technical MRV partner for Phase 2 of the Sustainable Rice Platform's Low Carbon Assurance Module work.

• Carbon Project MRV: Provides monitoring and emissions evidence for voluntary carbon-market and Article 6 projects. CarbonFarm also supports project design, certification management and credit sales through its wider service offering.

Closing Insights

CarbonFarm grew from founders Vassily Carantino and James Hastwell's focus on making carbon finance more accessible to rice-growing communities. Carantino previously worked at McKinsey, specializing in sustainability and carbon markets. Rather than developing a general-purpose farm carbon calculator, the company concentrated its technology on a difficult measurement problem: independently verifying practices across large numbers of geographically dispersed rice paddies. CarbonFarm raised €2.5 million in seed funding in 2023 to expand the approach internationally.

Its partnerships illustrate the different applications of the technology. BENEO and Rikolto are using CarbonFarm's satellite MRV in a three-year Mekong Delta programme intended to train more than 1,000 farmers in sustainable rice practices. In India, CarbonFarm and Partners in Prosperity have piloted digital MRV for a Gold Standard satellite-verified rice carbon project. CarbonFarm is also working with Amru Rice on Cambodia's first rice carbon project.

Development is increasingly extending beyond carbon-credit MRV into agricultural Scope 3 accounting. In 2026, CarbonFarm partnered with Regrow Ag to combine its rice-specific satellite monitoring with Tier 3 emissions modelling, while its work with the Sustainable Rice Platform is testing buyer-ready Scope 3 data under commercial supply-chain conditions. This makes CarbonFarm particularly relevant to organizations whose rice-related climate programmes require evidence of what changed at farm level, rather than emissions estimates based solely on generalized assumptions.