In May, Standard Bank Business and Commercial Banking announced a partnership with Orizon Agriculture, a South African carbon project developer that enables farmers to turn regenerative agriculture (RA) practices into verified carbon credits and participate in carbon markets without being burdened by complex administrative processes.
The partnership aims to help farmers who are already improving soil health or reducing on‑farm emissions translate those efforts into supplementary income while continuing to focus on productive, commercially viable farming.
Bill Blackie, CEO of Business and Commercial Banking at Standard Bank Group, said the partnership is aimed at increasing the adoption of RA among farmers.
“While the environmental benefits are critical, the long-term commercial value and resilience that these practices unlock for farmers are equally important. Therefore, we see carbon credits as an incentive to reward farmers for transitioning to more sustainable practices, particularly by enabling early adopters to scale their efforts while encouraging broader uptake across the sector,” he told Farmer’s Weekly.
Blackie added that the main benefit of carbon credits is that they allow regenerative-minded farmers to scale up these practices.
“Planting a cover crop is expensive, and the potential for carbon credit income allows farmers to scale it to a bigger portion of their farms.”
The Standard Bank–Orizon partnership will initially focus on South African commercial farmers, with a first‑year onboarding phase aimed at building confidence and understanding of agricultural carbon markets.
Farmers can expect to start earning income from credits within two to three years. After this initial waiting period, farmers enter a cycle and should earn credit revenues annually.
Orizon’s Carbon Crop Rewards Programme measures and verifies improvements in soil organic carbon and reductions in on‑farm emissions. These verified outcomes are issued as carbon credits, which can be sold on carbon markets to supplement farmers’ income from their core agricultural production.
Michael Lilje, CEO and founder of Orizon Agriculture, noted that possible income per hectare varies largely based on a range of factors, including climate, soils, as well as current and past practices.
“Credit earnings for our first round were valued at between R180/ha and R2 100/ha, at current carbon prices. This should increase, as carbon prices are expected to rise over the coming years,” he explained.
Carbon credits represent verified environmental outcomes, with each credit equivalent to 1t of greenhouse gas emissions that has been reduced or removed from the atmosphere. In an agricultural context, this typically comes from practices such as reduced tillage, cover cropping, improved grazing management, and lower fertiliser intensity, which many farmers already use to improve productivity and resilience.
