From the ground up: exploring European carbon farming through social practice theory

The IPCC has highlighted the role of Carbon Dioxide Removals (CDR) to limit global warming to 1,5 °C, as hard-to-abate emissions fail to reach target reductions. Many academics, policy makers, private actors and civil society organisations argue that rewarding carbon farming could be a key approach to increasing CDR despite the uncertainty around the potential of carbon farming to contribute to net-zero efforts. The experiences and lived realities of farmers have largely been overlooked in the scientific and policy debates around carbon farming. Nevertheless, the EU is heavily investing in the development of carbon certificates for land managers through policies such as the Carbon Removal and Carbon Farming regulation (CRCF). This study provides a bottom-up perspective to carbon farming, by learning from farmers who have already implemented the ground-level changes sought by policy-makers. We collected data on the practices of 21 front-runners across Europe who are already involved in carbon farming initiatives. We find that carbon farming practices are deeply entangled in complexes across space and time, which leads to unique trade-offs and choices borne by the farmer. We also find that front-runner farmers are in a constant state of adapting practices to fit the context of their farm through experimentation. This leads to alternative entry points worthy of further exploration related to how carbon farming practicing, rather than individual practices, could be incentivised and supported. • Social practice theory is a valuable approach to understanding how farmers integrate new practices. • Rather than single practices, carbon farming exists in bundles and complexes. • There are invisible carbon farming practices, which may be counter-intuitive. • Carbon farming practicing, rather than practices, should be rewarded.