Today’s Solutions: October 10, 2026

If farmers make changes to the way they manage soil on farms—and that happened on farmland globally—it could theoretically suck a trillion tons of CO2 from the atmosphere, or as much as humans have emitted since the Industrial Revolution. The changes aren’t particularly complicated, and involve things like rotating crops, planting cover crops, and avoiding tilling the soil. The problem is modern agriculture demands more food at higher speeds, and since farmers aren’t getting paid fairly, they don’t have much of an incentive to grow crops sustainably.

That’s where Indigo comes in, a new marketplace that is trying to incentivize farmers by connecting them with companies and others who want to pay for carbon offsets. Like new technology designed to suck carbon dioxide out of the air, work on farms can help tackle the problem of CO2 already in the atmosphere. But while carbon-sucking machines can cost $100 per ton of sequestered CO2, changes on a farm can happen much more affordably.

Farmers can sign into the marketplace and receive up to $20 per ton of carbon they sequester per year, which could motivate farmers to change their practices considering each acre can sequester two to three tons of carbon a year. That payment could potentially double the salaries of farmers who are struggling to make ends meet. There are many challenges that will come with making this carbon-offsetting marketplace go mainstream, but if it does work, it could have a huge effect on emissions.

Solutions News Source Print this article
More of Today's Solutions

This highway was made from recycled diapers

Recycling plastic to create a new purpose for it is nothing new. Here at The Optimist Daily, we’ve previously shared how innovators have reused ...

Read More

How arts and crafts can boost life satisfaction even more than work

BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM In a society where productivity and work are often considered the markers of success, it's encouraging to learn ...

Read More

6 drinks that will help you digest festive feasts with ease

BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM The holiday season is here, bringing twinkling lights, festive parties, and let’s be honest—a lot of food. From ...

Read More

Single dose of DMT shows promise for treatment-resistant depression in early ...

BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM A single, carefully administered dose of the psychedelic compound dimethyltryptamine, better known as DMT, may offer meaningful relief ...

Read More