The short answer. The cost of soil carbon testing per hectare is set by three things: the size of the holding, the number of fields, and what you want done with the measurement once you have it. Larger holdings cost materially less per hectare, because the fixed parts of a round – planning the sampling, getting a team on to the farm, laboratory batching, the report – are spread over more ground. We do not publish a rate card. Send us your SBI number and your hectares and we will send a written quote within two working days.
What you are paying for
A round of measurement on your farm has four parts, and every one of them is on every tier.
- Physical soil samples on every field we monitor, analysed by dry combustion in an ISO-accredited laboratory. Nothing is estimated from a list of practices you say you follow.
- Satellite imagery tied to those samples by our AI at 100 readings a hectare – a value every 10 metres – so the result is a map and a field total, not a list of sample points.
- The error, measured against samples the AI never saw, deducted in full before anything is reported.
- A report, field by field, against your own baseline, with the accuracy stated.
That is the measurement. The tier you choose decides what we do with it.
Three things move the price per hectare
1. The size of the holding
Every round carries fixed work: agreeing field boundaries, designing the sampling, a team on farm, laboratory batching, the report. Spread over 150 hectares that work is a large share of the bill. Spread over 1,500 hectares it is a small one. This is why a larger holding costs materially less per hectare, and why we quote the holding rather than publish a single rate that would be wrong for most farms.
2. The number of fields
A farm of forty fields needs more sampling points, more boundary work and a longer report than a farm of twelve fields on the same area. Field count changes the sampling design, and the sampling design changes the cost.
3. The tier
One measurement, three tiers. Measure is the measurement itself: annual soil carbon, field by field, against your own baseline, with the accuracy stated. Report adds a full IPCC Tier II emissions calculation, reported to the standards your buyers’ auditors will use from 2027 – both sides of the ledger, what the farm emits and what it removes. Access adds registry submission and credit origination: verified removals issued in your name, sold on your terms and commission-free. Emissions reporting and registry work are added only when you need them, so you are never paying for a service you have not asked for.
Why a per-hectare number on its own misleads
Two quotes at the same price per hectare can be measuring completely different things. Before comparing numbers, ask any provider three questions.
- Are physical samples taken on my farm on every round, or is my result modelled from a practice checklist? Ours are taken on every round.
- Is the accuracy stated on the report, and is the error deducted? Ours is, always.
- Who owns the data if I stop? You do. If you stop working with us you take your baseline and every measurement with you.
We charge for the work, never a commission on your carbon, so our advice is not biased by what earns us more.
The minimum, the deposit and when you pay
- The minimum project area is 150 hectares. You do not have to baseline the whole farm to start.
- A small deposit secures your place in the sampling season. The balance for the baseline round is invoiced once it is complete.
- Annual monitoring is invoiced each year on your normal account.
- Soil carbon has to be sampled at the same point in the year for the change to be real. The 2026 autumn–winter sampling window is open until the end of February 2027. Miss it and your baseline is delayed by a year.
How to get your quote
Send us your SBI number and your hectares. We will come back with a written quote within two working days, based on your actual fields rather than an average. Get a quote.
Questions farmers ask
Do I have to sell carbon credits?
No. Credits are the Access tier and only make sense when there is real demand for insets or offsets. Most farms start with Measure. Every round is measured to full Registry standard whichever tier you are on, so stepping up later is a decision rather than starting again.
How often is the farm sampled?
Every year, timed to your cropping and to the autumn–winter window, against the baseline set in your first round. A bad year shows up in that year, while the fix is still cheap, not five years later when it is structural.
What does the measurement give me beyond a number?
Which fields held their carbon and which lost it in that year’s weather, so you can correct while the fix is a rotation change rather than a rebuild. Across our monitoring programmes we are seeing an emerging relationship between soil organic carbon stock change and yield stability – see soil organic carbon and yield: what five annual monitoring cycles are showing.
Is there a whole-farm requirement?
No. The 150-hectare minimum is the only size rule. Which fields go in is your choice, agreed on a short call when we set up.
More on what a farmer gets from a measured round: For Farmers. How the measurement works: Leading With Science.
Part of our guide to soil carbon measurement for farms. Related: what 150 hectares means in practice · how soil carbon is measured · why once a year.
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