Carbon Farm Planning


CCI has designed  a process to develop Carbon Farm Plans (CFPs), combining whole-farm planning and resource assessment in a comprehensive planning framework. 

Carbon Farm Planning emerged from the nexus between the climate crisis and traditional farm conservation planning, as a whole farm approach to optimizing carbon capture on working landscapes. The Carbon Farm Planning team works with a farmer or rancher to assess all the opportunities for GHG reduction and carbon sequestration on their land. The process combines traditional whole-farm planning and resource assessment approaches with up to date climate science to develop a comprehensive, carbon-focused farm plan.

Ultimately, the Carbon Farm Planning process supports the transformation of producers to Carbon Farmers by supporting their understanding of carbon as a powerful organizing principle for managing their land. Through the Carbon Farm Planning process, carbon farming experts work with producers to identify opportunities for carbon sequestration throughout the farming system. Learn more at What is Carbon Farming?

Planning Tools

A set of online GHG planning and modeling tools (COMET Planner and COMET Farm), developed by researchers at Colorado State University, with support from NRCS, CCI and the Marin Carbon Project, facilitate the process of developing a CFP and allows for estimating the potential GHG benefits of a plan. In addition to GHG reductions and carbon sequestration in soils and vegetation, there are important co-benefits of implementing a carbon farm plan, including higher productivity, increased soil water holding capacity, and improved hydrological function, biodiversity, and climate resilience.