S2:E3 – Inside the Opaque Market for Ag Ecosystem Assets with Dom Sutton-Vermeulen

This is one of the most exciting, detailed, and hopeful conversations we’ve had about the pace and structure of capital flowing to producers investing in soil health.

It turns out that one of agriculture’s most opaque arenas—corporate supply chain investments in ecosystem assets—is becoming a major source of funding for soil health improvements. And it’s accelerating.

As co-founder and CEO of Millpont, Dom Sutton-Vermeulen has a front-row seat to this emerging market. Millpont is building the infrastructure to ensure the integrity of ecosystem assets like carbon, water, and biodiversity. His team works across project developers and corporate buyers to ensure environmental claims are credible, not double-counted—and that producers are compensated.

From this unique vantage point, Dom shares what he’s seeing:

• • Why the market for ag ecosystem credits is accelerating with corporate buyers even as sustainability teams are shrinking
    
    
  • The critical role of a clearing house in market governance
    
    

• How data is the new cash crop and how farmers and ranchers can think strategically about it
  
  

• Where the dollars are flowing in offset, inset, and carbon intensity (CI) markets mapped to specific production systems
  
  
• Why major corporations are doubling down on ecosystem asset programs—not for PR, but to manage long-term supply chain risk
  
  
• The extraordinary growth rate in these markets including rate of growth, acreage numbers, and whether it’s just due to the law of small numbers
  
  
• How Carbon Intensity is emerging as a new standard and what that means for producers in row crops vs. pasture systems
  
  
• Premium payment amounts for producers, from early pilot premiums to mature CI programs
  
  
• Opportunities Dom sees, both to build additional infrastructure companies in the space as well as project development gaps

If you’re trying to make sense of this complex and fast-evolving space, Dom offers one of the clearest, most grounded perspectives we’ve heard.