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Barley is one of the world’s most important cereal crops — and aligning high-quality malting barley production with regenerative agriculture is technically demanding. The standards for protein content and germination rates are strict, but not impossible to meet — and some pioneering farmers are proving just that, with benefits for soil health, resilient yields, and lower carbon emissions.
In this webinar, we went behind the scenes with real farmers in our programme to share farm-level data, success stories, and lessons learned. The goal: to demonstrate that transitioning barley systems to regenerative models is not just possible — it’s already happening.
What you’ll learn from this session:
Who is this for?
This session was designed for malters, brewers, sustainability managers, agri-food decision-makers, and agriculture teams looking to:
Q: How do you calculate the emission and reduction in your case studies?
A: They use a hybrid modeling method combining two models: DNDC model (from Regrow): Used for soil-related emissions and removals, including soil organic carbon sequestration (direct and indirect) and N2O or methane emissions. This is a Tier 3 model, aligning with GHG protocol and IPCC guidance. CFT (Cool Farm Tool): Captures all non-soil emissions, such as fertilizer emissions, fuel use, crop protection products, and machinery emissions. This hybrid approach ensures the full GHG balance is captured.
Q: Is your biodiversity score solely linked to cover crop diversity?
A: No. The biodiversity score, like other subdomain scores, is calculated based on multiple indicators. There are 32 indicators globally, aggregated by domains. For biodiversity, there are up to ten indicators, not just crop diversity. Examples include pollination insecticide-free surface and others to ensure a comprehensive understanding of biodiversity.
Q: Do you use a test and test approach (soil samples at start and end for validation)?
A: They use a model-based approach that incorporates soil sampling. Soil organic carbon (SOC) data from the start is fed into the model to produce initial results, including carbon sequestration. Farmers who complete the five-year program are asked for soil samples again (after the program), which are then fed back into the model to improve its accuracy. They do not use a strict test-and-test approach (i.e., before and after every change).
Q: How do you ensure farmers don't revert to initial practices after the program duration?
A: They have implemented a buffer mechanism as a safeguard. This incentive consists of keeping 20% of the benefits (rewards) a farmer could collect from their improved practices for an additional ten-year period. The farmer is only rewarded for this 20% after that period. This provides an incentive for the farmer to maintain the regenerative practices even after the five-year program ends.
Q: Does the program remunerate farmers for both emissions reduction and removals?
A: Yes. They collect practices and report farm performance on both an emission and removal basis. Companies are provided with emission factors split into both parts, as well as the net performance. While there is discrepancy in what companies account for, they are seeing more companies confidently accounting for removals, aligning with emerging frameworks like the Carbon Removal Certification Frameworks.
Q: How long does it take for farmers to reach the "top performer" stage?
A: It varies greatly and is highly case-by-case, depending on many factors:
Q: How do you establish the premium price to incentivize farmers to start the transition?
A: The premium needs to be important enough to kickstart the transition—it's not aimed at covering the farmer's full needs, but to provide a viable incentive. The organization is increasingly involved in discussions among different players in the value chain (supply chain partners) to determine the right price and to ensure the cost is impacted or supported by all relevant players.
Q: Can a company start a program with farmers who are already engaged in other initiatives?
A: Yes, it is possible. They are already working with many farmers and cooperatives who may be in a company's supply chain. They look to integrate already engaged farmers into the new program. Furthermore, they work with other agricultural players on a tool called Farm Vault, which maps farmers and their initiative enrollments to prevent double counting.
Q: Does your solution apply to other crops besides the current case study?
A: Yes. This was the second session in a series (the first covered potato farming). They aim to duplicate this kind of initiative for other crops and industries, ensuring the platform is neutral for farmers. They have also developed a crop rotation solution with partners like SustainCERT, which allows companies to valorize the improvements achieved by farmers on other crops in their rotation and account for these in their carbon reporting.
Barley is one of the world’s most important cereal crops — and aligning high-quality malting barley production with regenerative agriculture is technically demanding. The standards for protein content and germination rates are strict, but not impossible to meet — and some pioneering farmers are proving just that, with benefits for soil health, resilient yields, and lower carbon emissions.
In this webinar, we went behind the scenes with real farmers in our programme to share farm-level data, success stories, and lessons learned. The goal: to demonstrate that transitioning barley systems to regenerative models is not just possible — it’s already happening.
What you’ll learn from this session:
Who is this for?
This session was designed for malters, brewers, sustainability managers, agri-food decision-makers, and agriculture teams looking to:
Q: How do you calculate the emission and reduction in your case studies?
A: They use a hybrid modeling method combining two models: DNDC model (from Regrow): Used for soil-related emissions and removals, including soil organic carbon sequestration (direct and indirect) and N2O or methane emissions. This is a Tier 3 model, aligning with GHG protocol and IPCC guidance. CFT (Cool Farm Tool): Captures all non-soil emissions, such as fertilizer emissions, fuel use, crop protection products, and machinery emissions. This hybrid approach ensures the full GHG balance is captured.
Q: Is your biodiversity score solely linked to cover crop diversity?
A: No. The biodiversity score, like other subdomain scores, is calculated based on multiple indicators. There are 32 indicators globally, aggregated by domains. For biodiversity, there are up to ten indicators, not just crop diversity. Examples include pollination insecticide-free surface and others to ensure a comprehensive understanding of biodiversity.
Q: Do you use a test and test approach (soil samples at start and end for validation)?
A: They use a model-based approach that incorporates soil sampling. Soil organic carbon (SOC) data from the start is fed into the model to produce initial results, including carbon sequestration. Farmers who complete the five-year program are asked for soil samples again (after the program), which are then fed back into the model to improve its accuracy. They do not use a strict test-and-test approach (i.e., before and after every change).
Q: How do you ensure farmers don't revert to initial practices after the program duration?
A: They have implemented a buffer mechanism as a safeguard. This incentive consists of keeping 20% of the benefits (rewards) a farmer could collect from their improved practices for an additional ten-year period. The farmer is only rewarded for this 20% after that period. This provides an incentive for the farmer to maintain the regenerative practices even after the five-year program ends.
Q: Does the program remunerate farmers for both emissions reduction and removals?
A: Yes. They collect practices and report farm performance on both an emission and removal basis. Companies are provided with emission factors split into both parts, as well as the net performance. While there is discrepancy in what companies account for, they are seeing more companies confidently accounting for removals, aligning with emerging frameworks like the Carbon Removal Certification Frameworks.
Q: How long does it take for farmers to reach the "top performer" stage?
A: It varies greatly and is highly case-by-case, depending on many factors:
Q: How do you establish the premium price to incentivize farmers to start the transition?
A: The premium needs to be important enough to kickstart the transition—it's not aimed at covering the farmer's full needs, but to provide a viable incentive. The organization is increasingly involved in discussions among different players in the value chain (supply chain partners) to determine the right price and to ensure the cost is impacted or supported by all relevant players.
Q: Can a company start a program with farmers who are already engaged in other initiatives?
A: Yes, it is possible. They are already working with many farmers and cooperatives who may be in a company's supply chain. They look to integrate already engaged farmers into the new program. Furthermore, they work with other agricultural players on a tool called Farm Vault, which maps farmers and their initiative enrollments to prevent double counting.
Q: Does your solution apply to other crops besides the current case study?
A: Yes. This was the second session in a series (the first covered potato farming). They aim to duplicate this kind of initiative for other crops and industries, ensuring the platform is neutral for farmers. They have also developed a crop rotation solution with partners like SustainCERT, which allows companies to valorize the improvements achieved by farmers on other crops in their rotation and account for these in their carbon reporting.
