Carbon credits - "the golden key" for organic agriculture - Part 1: "A new goldmine" in the fields

Carbon credits - "the golden key" for organic agriculture - Part 1: "A new goldmine" in the fields

At the Conference Reviewing 2025 Work and Deploying 2026 Tasks of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment held on December 31, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh directed: "Agriculture remains the economic backbone, but it must be digitized, modernized, industrialized, and driven by science, technology, and innovation; developing ecological agriculture, modern rural areas, and civilized farmers."

From "yield mindset" to "green value mindset"

For decades, the benchmark of success for Vietnam's agriculture was export turnover and millions of tons in output. However, the price paid for those impressive figures was often the depletion of soil resources and greenhouse gas emissions from chemical fertilizers. Moving into 2025, under the pressure of EU carbon border adjustments (CBAM) and the Net Zero commitment by 2050, the definition of "productivity" has completely changed.

Organic agriculture, once considered a "luxury pastime" for environmentalists, has now become the focal point of a new economic paradigm. At the 3rd Organic District World Congress (ODWC) held in Datong City, Shanxi Province (China) in late August 2025, experts agreed on one viewpoint: "Organic agriculture is the farming method with the best capacity to reduce emissions and sequester carbon."

Furthermore, the 8th Organic Asia Congress (OAC) 2025, organized by the Vietnam Organic Agriculture Association in coordination with relevant entities from September 17 to 19 in Ninh Binh Province, was also a major highlight for the agricultural sector, attracting nearly 600 delegates, including international guests from 33 countries and territories, comprising policymakers, experts, scientists, enterprises, and agricultural development organizations.

Today, farmers are not merely food producers; they are true “carbon harvesters.” The year 2025 marked a historic transformation: organic fields no longer just sell kilograms of rice or bundles of clean vegetables, but have begun earning “green foreign currency” from the carbon credit market.

According to the Vietnam Carbon Market Update Report for Q3/2025, the price of a carbon credit from sustainable agriculture projects in the voluntary market reached 12 - 15 USD/credit, an increase of nearly 40% compared to 2023. This is an "eloquent" figure. If one hectare of organic rice can reduce emissions and sequester about 5-10 tonnes of CO2 per year, farmers could earn an extra several million to tens of millions of VND without having to sell a single grain of rice.

Carbon Credits: A "New Goldmine" in the Fields

The key to organic agriculture lies in the soil. Unlike conventional farming, which degrades the soil and releases carbon into the atmosphere, organic farming focuses on replenishing humus and microorganisms.

Data from the Vietnam Academy of Agricultural Sciences in 2025 indicated that soil in organic farms contained 25-30% higher organic carbon content compared to chemically cultivated soil. These thick humus layers act like a giant 'sponge', both retaining water to fight drought and locking carbon deep underground for decades.

Transitioning to organic not only helps agribusinesses meet strict export standards into the European market (which began strictly applying carbon footprint metrics in 2025), but also creates an absolute competitive advantage. An organic product certified as “Low Carbon” sells for 20% more than conventional organic products in supermarkets in Germany or France.

However, the carbon “gold mine” is not easy to tap without technology. One of the highlights of 2025 is the boom in technological solutions for measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV). Digitization not only enables carbon credit sales but also enhances farm management efficiency. When data is interconnected, international certification bodies can verify the “cleanliness” and “greenness” of farms remotely, reducing audit costs by 50% compared to traditional methods.

Although the potential is enormous, the path to turning organic agriculture into a "carbon industry" still faces hurdles. First is the fragmented scale of production. A farming household with just a few sào of land cannot independently sell carbon credits because appraisal costs are too high. Therefore, the role of cooperatives and the linkage of "leading" enterprises are vital factors.

Second, although the domestic carbon credit trading platform has been piloted since 2025, its legal framework still requires more time to finalize financial and tax mechanisms. Farmers need clearer guidance on who will represent them in transactions and how benefits will be distributed.

At the Agricultural Forum 2025 themed "Promoting Circular Economy in Agriculture" in mid-July, policymakers emphasized: "We should not view carbon credits as a subsidy, but rather as a special commodity of modern agriculture."

Returning to Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's statement about a generation of “civilized farmers”, that image can be seen gradually emerging in organic fields in 2025. These are farmers who know how to create value from seemingly invisible things like the air and the environment.

This also means that organic agriculture is not just about protecting consumer health; it carries a greater mission: saving the planet and bringing sustainable prosperity to rural areas. Once the carbon economics issue is thoroughly solved, Vietnamese organic agricultural products will no longer suffer from the dilemma of "bumper harvests bringing lower prices," because by then, every grain of rice and every orange sold will embody both environmental value and global business ethics.

The year 2026 is unfolding with a new expectation: Vietnamese agriculture will not only feed the world with clean food, but also contribute to cooling the earth through its own green organic efforts.