In a landmark move for European regenerative agriculture, InSoil has announced a €100 million partnership with KeyCarbon, accelerating the rollout of its zero-interest Green Loans across Europe. This strategic alliance will enable thousands of small and medium-sized farmers to transition to regenerative practices while also scaling InSoil’s Carbon Farming Program to one million hectares by 2026.
By 2027, InSoil aims to generate over 1.2 million carbon credits annually, sequestering more than 35 million tonnes of CO₂ from the atmosphere. It’s a bold step toward a regenerative future for Europe’s farmland. For corporate buyers seeking verified, nature-based carbon solutions, this represents one of Europe’s largest and most comprehensive agricultural carbon programs.
We sat down with Laimonas Noreika, CEO and co-founder of InSoil, to discuss how this partnership will reshape the European carbon farming landscape and what it means for businesses looking to invest in agricultural carbon credits.
Reaching Scale: From 800,000 to 1 Million Hectares
As part of this KeyCarbon partnership, how many farmers will InSoil reach, and what’s your timeline for expansion?
This partnership fundamentally changes our ability to scale. We currently have 800,000 hectares enrolled through our Green Loans and Carbon Farming Program, and with KeyCarbon’s backing, we’re targeting one million hectares by the end of 2026.
This growth will come from two fronts: deepening our presence in existing markets—particularly Poland, where we’ve seen tremendous farmer adoption—and strategic expansion into new European markets. The beauty of this approach is that it’s farmer-led and economically sustainable, creating genuine long-term value for both agricultural communities and corporate carbon buyers.
What specific regenerative practices are your farmers implementing? Are there standard approaches across different regions?
Absolutely. Our network of farmers implements a broad spectrum of regenerative agriculture practices, tailored to the unique conditions of each farm. While there is no one-size-fits-all solution, two foundational principles guide our approach:
- Minimizing soil disturbance: This often means reducing or eliminating tillage, which helps preserve soil structure, retain organic matter, and support microbial life.
- Ensuring continuous soil cover: Farmers achieve this by leaving crop residues on the field and planting cover crops. This protects the soil from erosion, improves moisture retention, and fosters biodiversity both above and below ground.
Beyond these practices, many of our farmers adopt practices such as diverse crop rotations, integrating livestock, and using organic amendments. And because many of the lands we work with are already degraded, we provide tailored agronomic advice based on detailed assessments of each field. We are driven by our mission to enable farmers for effective, measurable, and sustainable regenerative transitions.
Gold-Standard MRV: Transparency Corporate Buyers Can Trust
Corporate carbon credit buyers need robust verification. Can you walk us through InSoil’s monitoring, reporting, and verification process?
Measurement integrity is absolutely non-negotiable in our business model. Corporate buyers invest significant resources in carbon credits, and they need complete confidence in the environmental impact they’re purchasing.
Our MRV system integrates four critical data streams:
- Comprehensive field-level documentation of every management practice—from tillage operations to fertilization schedules and timing.
- Advanced remote sensing using satellite imagery to monitor vegetation cover, biomass accumulation, and agricultural activity across thousands of fields in real-time.
- Rigorous soil sampling protocols conducted in two phases: initial variability mapping followed by precise measurement of organic carbon content, soil density, and texture profiles.
- Direct farmer reporting that captures on-ground practices and management decisions that satellite data cannot detect.
All data flows into our proprietary carbon quantification model, which undergoes independent third-party verification. We produce Digital Soil Organic Carbon Maps and comprehensive Biomass Distribution Maps that provide complete transparency to both our farmers and corporate buyers. This isn’t just about meeting compliance standards—it’s about delivering the data-driven confidence that enterprise carbon strategies require.
Overcoming Market Barriers: The €62 Billion Financing Gap
Scientific research consistently shows that regenerative agriculture increases farm profitability, yet adoption remains limited. What are the primary barriers preventing farmers from making this transition?
You’ve identified the central paradox of our industry. The business case for regenerative agriculture is compelling—multiple peer-reviewed studies demonstrate improved profitability alongside environmental benefits. Yet we’re still seeing slow adoption, particularly among small and medium-sized operations.
The primary bottleneck is upfront capital investment. For most farms, the transition to low soil disturbance practices requires significant equipment upgrades. A precision no-till seeder alone costs upwards of €75,000, often necessitating a more powerful tractor as well. That’s a substantial investment for operations that may have annual revenues in the hundreds of thousands, not millions.
The European Commission and EIB have quantified this challenge: there’s a €62 billion financing gap in EU agriculture, with small and medium-sized farms disproportionately affected. Many farmers have experienced repeated rejections from traditional financial institutions, creating what we call “financing fatigue”—they’ve stopped seeking capital entirely.
Additionally, while the carbon credit market shows tremendous promise, farmers need concrete assurance of economic viability. They can’t transition based on theoretical projections alone.
This is precisely why our partnership with KeyCarbon is so significant. We’re not just providing technical guidance—we’re de-risking the entire transition process through accessible financing and guaranteed carbon credit markets. Our mission is to make regenerative agriculture both profitable and practical for every farmer, regardless of their current operational scale.
