How Ranchers Quietly Built America's Top Carbon Remover

While most climate conversations focus on high-tech solutions like direct air capture and industrial carbon storage, a Texas-based company has been doing something different. Grassroots Carbon just hit a milestone that puts it ahead of every other carbon removal company in the country, and they did it by working with ranchers instead of building massive facilities.

The company announced it has delivered 1.9 million tons of verified carbon removals through its regenerative ranching program. That makes Grassroots Carbon the first U.S. company to reach this milestone using soil carbon sequestration on working grasslands. Even more impressive, over 1.5 million tons have already been retired by corporate buyers like Nestlé, Microsoft, Shopify, and Chevron.

The Numbers That Matter

This approach stands apart from the $77.5 billion wave of industrial carbon capture projects sweeping the U.S. Instead of building expensive facilities, Grassroots Carbon partners with ranchers who implement regenerative practices on their land. The company handles the measurement, verification, and credit sales while ranchers focus on what they know best: caring for their land.

>> RELATED: North America's Carbon Removal Year in Review: The Deals, Policies, and Milestones That Shaped 2025

Why This Approach Works

Healthy grasslands pull carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through photosynthesis, pushing it deep underground through extensive root systems. Unlike some biochar applications, this carbon can remain stored in soil for thousands of years. Grassroots Carbon uses a rigorous verification process:

1. EarthOptics handles field sampling with one-meter deep soil cores, significantly deeper than conventional approaches.

2. PatternAg performs third-party laboratory analysis of soil samples.

3. Comite Resources verifies project implementation and results.

4. The Applied Ecological Institute reviews and certifies each credit before issuance.

The company now manages the largest privately collected soil carbon dataset in the U.S., giving it an edge in understanding what actually works on the ground. Participating ranches have reported water infiltration rates up to 30 times higher than degraded land, showing how carbon storage benefits go beyond just climate.

Real Impact for Ranching Communities

The financial model matters as much as the environmental outcomes. Grassroots Carbon has paid $40 million directly to ranching partners since 2022 and provided another $10 million in advance payments so ranchers can participate without upfront costs. This addresses a real problem: a quarter of American farms were in debt in 2022, and many families have been forced to sell land just to survive.

The company collaborates with organizations including Audubon Conservation Ranching, Texas Agricultural Land Trust, and Colorado State University's Soil Carbon Solutions Center to ensure scientific rigor and transparency. With corporate buyers increasingly demanding high-quality removal credits, demand keeps growing.

The Bigger Picture for Carbon Removal

America's 655 million acres of grasslands represent one of the largest untapped carbon opportunities on the planet, with the potential to store up to 1 billion tons of CO2 annually. That is a massive number when you consider the durable carbon removal market just crossed 1 million tonnes in actual deliveries this year.

Unlike BECCS facilities or industrial carbon storage projects requiring massive capital investments, regenerative ranching scales through existing landowners who already know their soil. The infrastructure and expertise are already there. Grassroots Carbon built the bridge to measure, verify, and monetize the carbon benefits.

What Comes Next

The company's ambition is to scale regenerative ranching across all 655 million acres of American grasslands. That is not a small goal. But if the first four years are any indication, aligning climate action with the people who know the land best might be exactly what this industry needed all along.