“We are interested in analysing the effects of carbon farming programmes on smallholder farmers in different countries in the Global South. Their promise to generate carbon credits and sequester carbon while also transforming agricultural practices is very attractive, but what will the actual outcomes be on the ground?", says Emma Johansson, researcher at Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies.
Carbon farming programmes promote different agricultural practices to sequester atmospheric carbon in the ground and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The participating farmers typically receive training and financial support to implement measures like no till-farming or the planting of cover crops. Carbon credits are sold to companies that wish to offset emissions that are hard to avoid. In Europe, many programmes have already been rolled out within the agricultural sector – although measuring the sequestered carbon, and ensuring its long-term storage, remain major challenges.
Now, the programmes are also on the rise in the Global South – a factor which motivated Emma Johansson to apply for the research grant, in collaboration with researchers Elina Andersson (LUCSUS) and Hilary Faxon (University of California Berkely and The University of Montana). Together with LUCSUS postdoctoral researcher Bernard Ekumah, they are eager to explore their effects on the local, smallholder level.
Links between agro-food industry and carbon farming
“Our earlier research into carbon farming programmes shows that many of the big players that have shaped the agro-food industry for decades are now developing their own carbon farming programmes. These companies dominate the production and sales of agrochemicals and seeds worldwide, which makes you wonder about their motives,” says Emma Johansson.
Especially the link between practices such as no-till farming, and the planting of specific cover crops, and large agro-food companies, could be of interest to explore further, she highlights.
“Both practices are beneficial for soil health and carbon sequestration, which is very positive, but no-till farming also leads to large amounts of weeds that need to be managed with agrochemicals. How will this dependence on certain products play out if the carbon programmes are owned by companies with their own agendas?”
There are many questions to drill into according to Emma Johansson and her colleagues: if farmers are getting paid for changing their agricultural practices: what will they need to do in return? Will they be forced to buy certain chemicals, seeds or other products? Or will they be free to act as independent agents?
Data and digital systems another aspect of the research
Linked to these questions is the use of digital systems, big data, and data grabbing. The researchers are especially interested in how these programmes make use of technology such as remote sensing to measure the sequestered carbon, and what type of data they will need to collect from the farmers. They also want to map how these programmes are linked to other actors, and the role that these actors might play in setting the agenda for what carbon farming is. Actors that are often mentioned on carbon farming programme webpages are Yara, Chevron and Microsoft.
“Understanding the flow of data is key to gain insight into how these programmes are meant to work. What data is fed back to the farmers; what integrity will they have, and how is their data ultimately used? In the future, we will see more use of digital tools and AI within agriculture, and it is important to analyse the impacts of this on those who will actually do the work,” says Emma Johansson.
About the project
The project, Social Consequences of Digitalisation of Agriculture: Carbon farming actor networks and impacts on smallholder farmers in the Global South, is funded by the Swedish Research Council for a three-year period, from August 2026 to August 2029.
Read more about the project in the Lund University Research Portal
Earlier research
