The first carbon neutral foods company in the United States.
Funding is available through a private company called Neutral for dairy farmers to implement practices that reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Neutral’s mission is to provide carbon neutral options for the staples found in most homes today, starting with dairy, and to fight climate change by scaling adoption of climate smart agricultural practices. To make this mission happen, Neutral provides funding to farmers to scale adoption of climate smart practices across dairies in the US.
Neutral helps farmers adopt climate smart practices by reducing on-farm emissions. This includes reducing enteric methane, changing how manure is managed, changing how feed is produced and increasing carbon sequestration. Neutral follows the work of researchers from around the world to bring the latest research and technology to reduce emissions.
Applications are accepted on an ongoing basis.
To determine your eligibility and access the application, take our eligibility survey in less than 1 minute.
Contract Details
Contracts are designed to match the longevity of the practice being implemented. The contract length varies based on intervention type and all terms outline the minimum length required. For example:
Neutral pays the farmer upfront for implementation, based on the project size and anticipated GHG benefit. When Neutral evaluates projects, they estimate GHG emission reduction/removals over time and estimate the potential value of that carbon reduction. In addition, Neutral establishes a monitoring protocol and estimate an approximate cost of monitoring. This last step is essential to document the exact carbon reduction realized before Neutral can use these carbon reductions as part of their insets.
The projects Neutral is currently funding include:
How much of my project will Neutral fund? As far as the size of the funding, that varies based on the climate benefit of the project. In practice, this means Neutral typically pays for all costs associated with feed supplements and tannin-condensed forages and hay, but often requires cost share for solid-liquid manure management and compost bedded pack barn projects. Payments have historically been between $2,000-$40,000 per project depending on project type.
Applications are accepted on an ongoing basis.
Eligibility
Neutral’s ideal producer is someone who strives to be a good steward of the environment. Neutral aspires to support farmers who would like to use innovative, scientific proven farm methods but also demonstrate stewardship through participation in a Validus welfare or FARM 4.0 program. Producers must have the ability to follow protocols and allow sampling to ensure the projects perform as intended.
In terms of hard and fast eligibility requirements, producers must:
To apply, Neutral has partnered with FarmRaise to offer a basic eligibility check so that you know whether this is truly the right fit for you. If you click the "Apply on your Own" button here in this funding library entry, it will take you through the eligiblity check, which takes less than one minute to complete. You can also access the eligibility check directly here. If you are found to be eligible, you'll be given the link to Neutral's application.
The application itself will ask you questions about your farm and your current feed and manure management practices. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. You will hear from a Neutral representative if your application will proceed.
Post-Application Process
After you apply, someone from the Neutral team will reach out to you via the contact information you provided. After receiving confirmation that Neutral has the information needed to scope your project and conduct a feasibility study, it will take Neutral approximately 30 days to decide to fund your application. Once Neutral has agreed to fund your project, Neutral will provide a contract for your signature to initiate the project. Funds will be disbursed via direct deposit within 14 days of signing a contract.
What sort of information does Neutral require during and after project construction?
You will need to provide Neutral with receipts and photos to verify practice adoption and a Neutral team member may want to visit your farm to see the project during or soon after construction. All farm visits will be mutually agreed upon in advance. In addition, Neutral will want periodic access to your farm to collect data to monitor and verify the climate benefit delivered by a project. To measure the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, Neutral may require farm records, receipts, sampling (soil, forage, milk, manure, etc.) or other supporting information. To grow awareness of the projects and funding opportunities, Neutral may want to feature your project in some marketing materials.
What happens if I receive funding but don’t implement a project?
If for some reason you don’t implement the project, don’t follow the agreed upon approach to project implementation described in the contract, or don’t allow Neutral to monitor the greenhouse gas emission reduction, you may be asked to repay some or all of Neutral’s funds. Roles and responsibilities vary by project and will be codified in our contract.