Worm farms use worms and microbes to naturally clean wastewater from farming operations. As wastewater passes through beds filled with wood chips and millions of worms, the worms eat and break down organic waste, while the microbes living alongside them help filter and purify the water.

This process is useful in farming because it cleans wastewater, allowing us to reuse it for irrigation, reduces odors from manure while keeping it out of local waterways, produces worm castings, a nutrient-rich, organic fertilizer, and reduces methane emissions from manure management.

The Soil Center has two worm farms, totaling 14 acres of worm beds, and millions of worms!

KEY TAKEAWAYS
+ Naturally Cleans Wastewater
+ Breaks Down Organic Waste
+ Provides Nutrient-Rich, Organic Fertilizer
+ Reduces Methane Emissions

Biochar is a charcoal-like material made by heating plant waste, like wood chips, or orchard prunings, in a low-oxygen environment. Instead of rotting or burning and releasing stored carbon back into the air, the carbon in that plant matter gets locked into a stable and solid form. 

How does it sequester carbon?

When biochar is added to soil, it can stay there for hundreds to thousands of years, effectively trapping carbon in the ground. Additionally, it can improve soil health by enhancing water retention and nutrient cycling. 

At CMI Orchards, we generate biochar at The Soil Center using our three biochar reactors, which utilize our orchard tree waste as feedstock. We then use this biochar in our orchards to complete the loop.

KEY TAKEAWAYS
+ Upcycles Waste
+ Traps Bad Carbon in Ground
+ Improves Soil Health
+ Created Closed-Loop System

Soil amendments are materials added to soil to improve its health and productivity. They can be natural (such as compost, manure, or biochar) or synthetic (chemical fertilizers and treatments), and they help with tasks like adding nutrients, improving soil structure, retaining more water, and supporting beneficial microbes. 

Why are they important?

Healthy soil grows healthier crops, uses water and fertilizers more efficiently, and provides greater resilience to drought and pests. 

Why are carbon-rich soil amendments useful? 

Carbon-rich soil amendments are beneficial because they not only boost soil fertility but store carbon in the ground instead of letting it escape into the atmosphere. All soil amendments made at The Soil Center are naturally-derived, designed to be carbon-rich and highly nutritious, reducing our need to add synthetic products to our soil.

KEY TAKEAWAYS
+ Improves Soil Health
+ Grows Healthier Crops
+ Traps Bad Carbon in Ground
+ Reduces Need for Synthetic Fertilizers

CO2e stands for carbon dioxide equivalent. It’s a way of adding up all the different greenhouse gases, such as methane and nitrous oxide, into a single number so they can be compared on the same scale.

For example, methane (CH4) traps about 28 times more heat than CO2, and nitrous oxide (N2O) traps about 265 times more heat! 

So, instead of tracking each gas separately, we convert them into the amount of CO2 that would have the same warming effect–and use the term CO2e.

KEY TAKEAWAYS
+ Combines Greenhouse Gases
+ Nitrous Oxide Traps More Heat

Our tree fruit, and other food, can be labeled “carbon negative” when the processes to grow and pack them actually remove more greenhouse gases from the atmosphere than the process creates. 

At CMI Orchards, this is made possible by our work at The Soil Center and trees in our orchards that naturally pull carbon dioxide out of the air as they grow, storing it in their wood, roots, and soil. 

Regenerative practices like cover cropping, compost, and biochar add even more carbon to the soil. At the same time, we reduce emissions from fertilizers, energy use, and waste. 

When the amount of carbon absorbed and stored by the orchard is greater than the emissions produced along the way, the result is carbon negative fruit that helps clean the air as it grows. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS
+ Removes Greenhouse Gases from Atmosphere
+ Growing Regenerative Fruit Cleans the Air

A carbon credit is a certificate that represents one ton of greenhouse gases reduced or removed from the atmosphere. They’re generated when a project proves it has cut emissions or pulled carbon out of the air, for example, through the use of renewable energy, forest restoration, or better farming practices. 

How are they generated?

At CMI Orchards and The Soil Center, we generate carbon credits by improving how we grow and manage our land: planting cover crops, building healthier soils that naturally store more carbon by using our carbon-rich soil amendments, such as worm castings, biochar, and compost, in our growing processes, and reducing fertilizer use. These practices lock carbon into the soil, rather than allowing it to escape into the atmosphere, and each measurable ton of carbon stored in this way can be converted into a carbon credit. 

At The Soil Center, all our carbon credits are verified by Verra’s Verified Carbon Standard, the world's most widely used greenhouse gas crediting program. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS
+ A Certification of Carbon Renewal
+ Samples Show Carbon Locked in Soil
+ Independent Verifier Confirms Data
+ Verra (VCS) Issues Credits

At The Soil Center, the carbon credits we generate are verified under the Verra Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), one of the world’s most widely recognized programs for ensuring that carbon reductions are real and reliable. 

Here’s how it works: 

1. Document soil carbon practices and take samples.

2. Send soil samples to an independent third-party verifier, approved by Verra, to confirm carbon storage.

3. Verra issues carbon credits, which can then be used or sold as offsets (outside the supply chain) or insets (inside the supply chain—the most valuable type of impact). 

A credit represents one ton of carbon dioxide, or another similar greenhouse gas, removed or reduced from the environment and can be bought or sold on the carbon market. 

An offset happens outside of a company’s direct operations.
Example: A company buys carbon credits from outside projects to balance out their own emissions.

An inset happens inside a company's own supply chain.
Example: A company reduces greenhouse gas emissions inside their own supply chain.

At CMI Orchards, we are committed to selling the carbon credits we generate as carbon insets to help our supply chain partners reach their climate goals and keep the positive impact within the food industry. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS
+ Insets & Offsets Specific to How & Who Sold To
+ Offsets Occur Outside Our Operations
+ Insets Occur Within Our Supply Chain

Selling carbon credits to supply chain partners helps the environment by creating a financial incentive for practices that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. When partners purchase carbon insets from us, they support regenerative farming that stores more carbon in the soil, reduces emissions, encourages more sustainable practices across the supply chain, and directs funding toward climate solutions. 

In short, when supply chain partners purchase carbon insets, they’re not just balancing their own emissions; they’re funding real environmental improvements on farms that keep carbon in the ground, improve soil health, and make agriculture more sustainable long-term. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS
+ Supports Regenerative Farming
+ Funds Environmental Improvements

Keeping carbon credits within the supply chain (insets) means the climate benefits stay directly connected to the products we grow and sell. Instead of selling credits on the open market, partnering with our own buyers and suppliers ensures that the value stays in the supply chain, everyone in the supply chain can lower their footprint and show progress on climate commitments, partners know where the credits come from and how the carbon was stored, and it creates a win-win relationship where environmental improvements also strengthen business ties. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS
+ Benefits Products We Grow & Sell
+ Local, Transparent Climate Action
+ Value Remains in Supply Chain