The short answer. Before you join any carbon or soil carbon scheme, find out how your carbon will be quantified, who owns the data and the credits, what you will pay and to whom, how long you are committed for, and what happens if your soil carbon falls. The schemes on offer to UK farmers differ most on exactly those points, and the answers are usually in the contract rather than the brochure.
Last reviewed September 2026.
Twelve questions to ask before you sign
Ask every scheme the same questions and get the answers in writing. A good scheme will be able to answer all of them plainly.
1. Is my soil carbon measured, or estimated from a model?
Some schemes estimate soil carbon from the practices you report and a model of what a typical soil should do. Others take soil samples and analyse them in a laboratory. A model can be a useful guide; a measurement tells you what actually happened in your fields that year. Ask which it is, and if samples are taken, how many, to what depth and how often.
2. How is the baseline set, and who pays for it?
Every later result is measured against the baseline, so it matters how it was taken. Some schemes offer a free baseline and recover the cost through a share of any carbon income later. Ask what you are giving up in return, and whether you receive the baseline data yourself.
3. How is the error stated and deducted?
No measurement is exact. Ask how the uncertainty of your result is worked out, whether it is shown on your report, and whether it is deducted before credits are calculated. A number with no error attached is harder to defend in front of a buyer or an auditor.
4. Who owns the data, and can I take it with me?
Your field boundaries, management records and results are valuable to you, to your buyers and to the scheme. Ask who owns them, what the scheme may use them for, and whether you keep your full history if you leave.
5. Who owns the credits, and in whose name are they issued?
In some schemes credits are issued to the scheme or pooled with other farms and sold on your behalf. Ask whose registry account the credits are issued to, whether you can choose the buyer, and whether you can keep credits back to sell to your own supply chain.
6. What does it cost, and is there a commission?
Ask for every charge: sign-up, sampling, annual fees, a percentage of credit sales, registry and verification fees, and marketplace fees. A share of carbon revenue can cost more over a project’s life than a fixed fee, and it links what the scheme earns to how many credits it issues.
7. How long am I committed for?
Separate the length of the contract from the length of time the land must stay monitored. Registered carbon projects carry a monitoring period set by the registry, and it can run well beyond a first contract term.
8. What happens if my soil carbon falls?
Soil carbon can go down in a hard year. Ask whether a loss has to be made good, how any buffer pool works, whether credits already sold can be clawed back, and whether you face any penalty for a reversal.
9. What if I sell land, change tenancy or leave farming?
Ask what happens to the obligations on the land. If you are a tenant, check who holds the rights to the carbon under your tenancy agreement before you enrol, and take advice if the agreement is silent.
10. Which registry, methodology and verifier stand behind it?
Ask for the name of the registry, the methodology the credits are issued under, where it is published, and who verifies the results. You should be able to look all three up yourself.
11. Are the farm’s own emissions deducted?
A credit should stand for carbon removed after the farm’s emissions are taken into account. Ask whether emissions from fertiliser, fuel and livestock are deducted, and how they are calculated.
12. Does it clash with anything else I am paid for?
Ask whether the scheme allows you to stay in government schemes such as the Sustainable Farming Incentive, and whether the same carbon could be claimed twice, for example by a buyer’s own programme and a credit sold elsewhere. Double counting damages the value of every credit involved.
How Ecometric answers them
- Measured, then mapped. Real soil samples on every farm we monitor, analysed by dry combustion, tied to satellite imagery, with the error measured against samples the AI never saw and deducted.
- A charged baseline, not a share of your carbon. You pay for the measurement, and you receive the baseline report and map.
- Your results are yours. Stop working with us and you take your baseline and every measurement with you.
- Credits in the account named in your contract, which can be yours. Sold on your terms, and never a commission.
- Published methodology. Our own methodology and credit class on the Regen Registry, with projects verified by independent bodies accredited to ISO 14065.
- Emissions deducted. Credits are issued for each tonne sequestered after greenhouse gas emissions are deducted.
- Measurement first. No lock-in on Measure or Report. If you register credits, the Registry sets how long the project must be monitored, and we tell you before you sign.
Questions we are asked about carbon schemes
What is a carbon scheme for farmers?
A programme that quantifies the carbon a farm removes or avoids and either pays for it directly or turns it into credits sold to buyers. Schemes differ in how they quantify carbon, what they charge and what they ask of the farm.
Are carbon schemes worth it for farmers?
It depends on your soil, your emissions and the terms. The safest way to judge is to measure first, so you know whether your fields are gaining or losing carbon before you commit land to a long monitoring period.
Can I be in more than one carbon scheme?
Usually not for the same land and the same carbon, because the carbon cannot be claimed twice. Check each contract for exclusivity, and tell every scheme about any other agreement that covers the land.
Who owns the carbon on tenanted land?
It depends on the tenancy agreement, and many older agreements say nothing about carbon. Landlord and tenant should agree it in writing before land is enrolled, and it is worth taking advice.
Can I start with measurement and decide on credits later?
With us, yes. Every round is measured to the Registry method whichever tier you are on, and the Registry decides which years can count if you register a project later. Send us your SBI number and your hectares and we will send a written quote within two working days. Get a quote.
Part of our guide to soil carbon measurement for farms. Related: how much a farm can earn from soil carbon · soil carbon credits for UK farmers · the baseline
