Low-carbon transition | November 10, 2022

Radical Ventures plants $9 million in seed funding for ranch management

Dan Keeler
Guest Author

Dan Keeler

ImpactAlpha, November 10 — Billings, Montana-based Enriched Ag uses machine-learning to help U.S. ranchers reduce emissions, improve soil health and generate revenues from carbon credits. Cattle farming makes an outsized contribution to greenhouse gas production.

Enriched Ag says its tools can help ranchers better adapt to a changing climate and mitigate climate change by capturing more carbon. “The right grazing programs can go a long way to mitigating the methane produced from cattle, and we can sequester more carbon, we can create more resilient soils through better soil health,” Enriched Ag’s Billy Cook told ImpactAlpha

Data-driven

Enriched is working with 14 ranches in seven states representing around 135,000 acres of land, gathering data that help predict the impact of different ranching strategies on productivity and the health of the land.

AI-focused venture firm Radical Ventures has made a $9 million seed investment in Enriched, which will be used to scale up its work with ranches to deepen its data. Radical’s investment follows a pre-seed investment from Future Ventures

Rewarding stewards

Enriched Ag aims to help ranchers develop revenues from carbon credits. “Many producers have done yeoman’s work to stay afloat,” Cook says. “If I can improve efficiency, increase production, show them a new revenue stream from ecosystem service credits, they’re going to be keenly interested,”

The current carbon trading system is not working for ranchers, he says. “We have to find a way for really good land stewards to continue to manage this land over time.”