Market Intelligence reports analyzing the economic influences on the changing face of agriculture.
Intercropping corn and soybeans.
Our Framing
Our perspective is rooted a holistic view of the critical economic levers driving soil health adoption by producers—spanning on-farm management, operating capital, real assets, commodity markets, and incentives.
Six Reports Slated For 2025
Each report will offer an in-depth analysis of one or more of the critical economic levers advancing soil health.
Emerging Patterns in Insetting
As companies strive to decarbonize their supply chains, insetting is rapidly emerging as a critical strategy to reduce Scope 3 emissions.
We will uncover the challenges in this rapidly evolving yet opaque market, including:
Assess the state of insetting programs
Analyze a variety of approaches being used
Map capital flows into the space, both to wholesale buyers running these programs and to enabling technologies such as Measurement, Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MMRV) platforms
Highlight what's working — and what's not — for producers
The State of Commodity Premiums
Potential factors driving premiums on commodities for producers and processors include Low Carbon Intensity tax credits, new certifications, measures of nutritional density, other types of consumer demand as well as direct sourcing and data coupling.
We'll analyze the extent to which each of these is delivering on that potential, including assessing:
The early stages of low Carbon Intensity pricing
Which if any certifications are producing market premiums
The current state of nutritional density measurement and its effect, if any, on commodity pricing
The Impact of Soil Health on Real Asset Strategies and Real Estate Valuations
Soil Health strategies are enabling standout real asset firms to outperform their peers, and innovative funds are creating novel producer partnerships with soil health as a central tenet.
Additionally, climate targets and resiliency demands have the potential to influence farmland valuations, with biofuel production and risk scoring emerging as key factors.
Our research will delve into:
Real asset investment structures and performance
Innovative fund models that are making capital available to producers
The growing impact of demand for biologically-derived substitutes for fossil-fuel products including biofuel and bioplastics
Evolving appraisal criteria that could significantly influence supply, demand, and valuation dynamics in agriculture
The Evolving Market for Ecosystem Assets in Agriculture
Ecosystem assets like carbon credits, water quality credits, and biodiversity credits have shown potential in climate-smart agriculture but have struggled with adoption and market performance.
However, new private markets are emerging, and certain niche categories are beginning to see traction on both the supply and demand sides.
Our report will:
Provide an in-depth analysis of the current ecosystem asset market
Highlight areas where buy-side and sell-side activities are gaining momentum
Explore trends in emerging asset types like biodiversity credits
The Promise and Pitfalls of Public & Philanthropic Incentives
Grants and cost-share programs are essential for advancing soil health practices, yet they often fall short due to their complexity, misalignment with production cycles, and a lack of cohesive strategy. Many producers find them hard to access, burdensome to comply with, and stigmatized, leading to underutilized capital and uneven adoption.
Our report will:
Conduct data analysis on over 500 federal, state, and local programs in the United States
Geographically map coverage
Gather producer feedback about select programs
Conduct a gap analysis to pinpoint where additional support is crucial to accelerate the adoption of climate-smart practices
Emerging Patterns in Lending and Risk Products
Traditional on-farm financial mechanisms like mortgages, operating lines of credit, and crop insurance are heavily influenced by public policy and the inertia of conventional agricultural lending practices.
There are, however, a small number of emerging lending models and risk products that incentivize soil health improvements operating outside of conventional markets.
Our report will:
Provide an overview of these models
Survey producers about their experience with these products
Explore the scalability of these products outside of concessionary capital
Look at early efforts by conventional underwriters to incorporate soil health practices into their products and processes
Get Notified When Reports Are Released
Sponsor a Report
We invite companies and non-profits to sponsor our reports, with both exclusive and non-exclusive options available for individual reports or the entire 2025 series.
Sponsorship offers visibility among industry decision-makers, opportunities for collaboration with key stakeholders, and early access to insights that can guide your strategy.
While we welcome your input to our analysis, please note that editorial control will remain with Soil Upside.