March 17, 2023

By Lynda Kiernan-Stone, Global AgInvesting Media

The latest investment by Tyson Ventures, the venture capital arm of Tyson Foods, is in Athian, the world’s first cloud-based carbon marketplace dedicated to the livestock industry. 

This Seed-stage capital commitment joins previous investments in the company from Elanco Animal Health Inc. and Newtrient LLC to fast-track the launch of this first-of-its-kind transactional carbon credit inset program giving producers in the livestock sector incentives for on-farm sustainability practices, which in-turn will improve the sustainability of the entire food system and mitigate climate change. 

“This investment from Tyson Ventures propels the development of our carbon marketplace platform forward,” said Paul Myer, CEO, Athian. “We now have investors from each segment of the livestock production value chain – farmers, packers, processors, and animal health companies – supporting sustainability practices, including the economic aspect of sustainability, which has been left out of the conversation for far too long.”

The environmental impacts of livestock agriculture, and how to mitigate the effects, are complex. Nearly 15 percent of greenhouse gas emissions are caused by livestock and their production, however, this is just the beginning. There’s also the loss of biodiversity, water usage and pollution, soil degradation, monoculture agriculture to produce enough feed, among others – making the launch of Athian all the more critical. 

“While no single company can solve the challenge of climate change alone, we can work together to make meaningful impacts,” said Myer. “We will launch Athian’s carbon credit insetting platform in the second half of 2023 so that livestock farmers who prioritize measurable carbon management practices will be able to, for the first time, earn revenue to fund those practices.”

Insetting vs. Offsetting

Insetting? We’ve all heard of carbon offsets for a while now, but what is insetting? The key difference between carbon offsetting and carbon insetting is the goal – carbon offsetting is when a company seeks to reduce emissions elsewhere to compensate, or offset, their own emission. Carbon insetting is the process of implementing practices to reduce emissions within your own operation – both fight climate change, in their own ways. 

Athian’s key mission is to help the beef and dairy value chains capture and then claim carbon credits earned by aggregating, validating, and certifying greenhouse gas reductions – and then monetizing those reductions through the sale of the credits. 

These steps are accomplished for producers of all sizes through Athian’s connected carbon marketplace and insetting platform, which will allow participating farmers to earn revenue to fund those practices once it goes to market later this year. 

“Our vision is to be the platform that enables the livestock industry to meet its sustainability goals by empowering producers to implement on-farm practice changes that will move the needle on climate change,” said  Myer. 

“Climate change presents a profound systemic challenge to the livestock industry. Athian is positioned to work with market leading companies to quantify, gain third party certification for and reward farmers for a range of sustainability practices executed at the farm level.”

~ Lynda Kiernan-Stone is editor in chief with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvesting’s AgInvesting Weekly News and  Agtech Intel News, as well as HighQuest Group’s Unconventional Ag. She can be reached at lkiernan-stone@globalaginvesting.com.

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