Abstract
Our paper focuses on the intersection of climate and agrifood politics by analysing carbon farming (CF), a ‘new’ nature-based solution for carbon removal. While there has been quite some critical research on forests and mechanisms of REDD+, the emerging schemes for CF in agriculture have not yet received much attention. We approach CF from a political ecology perspective through empirical research on the underlying political and technological infrastructure in Germany and the European Union. We address the following questions: First, who is driving this development, which actors benefit from it? What are their strategies and practices? Second, what kinds of private markets, public schemes and technical infrastructures have already emerged around CF and what kinds of environmental narratives and discursive promises are being made? Finally, what can be said about forms of delay, deterrence, and obstruction as a consequence of CF? Or how could CF be a transformative solution? What are the prospects for ‘just’ CF, where policies and programs are beneficial for a socio-ecological transformation including farmers? Our preliminary research findings suggest that existing inequalities and power relations are reproduced in the context of CF initiatives. In agriculture, each of the largest input and machinery firms offers a CF program. Using digital farm management platforms, the companies are able to direct data flows about seeds, soil quality, and farming practices directly into their platforms. Using CF programs not only locks farmers into existing economic and technological ecosystems. It also allows the firms to generate revenue from the collected data streams. Moreover, companies rely on high technology and science to confer credibility and legitimacy and make CF possible. Promises of precision and accuracy are invoked by industry and policy, while in reality the potential of digital technologies used to measure, monitor, and verify actual carbon levels is limited.