The Carbonsafe team of agronomists has launched the current cycle of routine on-site visits to agricultural holdings participating in the company’s carbon farming projects. These visits are an integral part of the established Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) system and are carried out regularly throughout the implementation of the projects.
Their primary objective is to document the current condition of the monitored fields and the agricultural practices applied during the respective growing season. This enables continuous monitoring of farm development between successive soil sampling campaigns while maintaining consistent, traceable, and verifiable records of land management.
During each visit, Carbonsafe agronomists meet with participating farmers and collect information on tillage operations, their frequency and timing, crop residue management, fertilizer application, crop rotation, crop development, and other agricultural activities that may influence soil health. Field observations are conducted on selected plots within each participating farm in accordance with the current monitoring plan.
The collected information is documented in on-site monitoring reports and complements the data contained in technological records and other project documentation. These technological records, maintained by the farmers, include details of field operations, cultivation practices, fertilizer application, and other activities related to land management.
Field inspections do not replace the direct soil measurements used to quantify changes in soil organic carbon stocks. Instead, they complement those measurements by documenting land management practices and providing context for the changes identified through subsequent soil sampling and laboratory analyses.
The information gathered during field visits is assessed together with soil analysis results, remote sensing data, and other project documentation. Combining these multiple sources of information enhances data traceability and allows consistency to be verified between farmers’ reported activities, observed field conditions, and monitoring results.
The visits also serve an important advisory function. On-site meetings provide an opportunity to discuss specific agronomic challenges, field-specific characteristics, and the applicability of different sustainable farming practices. Whenever necessary, Carbonsafe agronomists provide professional recommendations tailored to the individual farm, local soil and climatic conditions, and the results of laboratory soil analyses.
The reports prepared following each field visit form part of the project’s traceable documentation and are made available during subsequent independent review and verification processes. In this way, routine field inspections support not only day-to-day project management but also the long-term credibility and verifiability of the agricultural practices implemented.
The current monitoring campaign will continue over the coming weeks and will include farms located across different regions of Bulgaria. Through regular on-site monitoring, Carbonsafe continues to maintain close collaboration with participating farmers while further developing its integrated MRV system, combining field observations, project documentation, remote sensing, and direct laboratory measurements of soil organic carbon.
