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Select Quotes From This Episode:
"Soils store way, way, way, way, way more carbon around the world than all the trees the world combined." –Chris Tolles
"Soils are a massive carbon sink, but it's been pretty invisible because it's literally underground." –Chris Tolles
"Identify the application of your technology that helps someone make money or save money. That is what all businesses do. You either help someone increase revenue or decrease cost full stop." –Chris Tolles
"If you don't care about climate, soil organic carbon is important because it is the basis of all food or 99 % of our food, basically, besides fish." –Chris Tolles
"I fundamentally don't believe that consumer behavior will be a significant level of soil health climate impact. I would love to be wrong." –Chris Tolles
In this episode of CleanTechies, host Silas Mähner talks with Chris Tolles, Founder and CEO of Yard Stick, about the untapped climate power beneath our feet—soil carbon. While trees often take center stage in climate conversations, Chris reveals that soils actually store more carbon than all the world’s trees and plants combined. The challenge? It’s underground, invisible, and notoriously hard to measure.
Yard Stick’s in-situ spectroscopy technology changes that. By replacing expensive lab testing with quick, precise optical measurements, they’re making soil carbon measurement scalable for both carbon credit buyers—like Microsoft—and agribusiness giants like General Mills and Organic Valley. For these companies, healthy soils are about resilient supply chains, better yields, and long-term profitability.
He also explains the tricky balance of messaging climate tech. While climate impact motivates some stakeholders, many decision-makers respond more to business value such as cost savings, supply chain stability, and yield improvements. He outlines three forces that could accelerate soil health adoption:
Corporate net-zero goals tied directly to agricultural supply chains.
Early crop crises that expose the risks of degraded soils.
Consumer demand for regenerative agriculture (though he’s skeptical this will drive large-scale change).
The discussion also touches on macro factors like fertilizer price spikes from geopolitical conflicts, extreme weather events, and the need for sustainable intensification—producing more food with fewer emissions.
Whether you work in agriculture, carbon markets, or climate strategy, this conversation is a playbook for aligning science, economics, and storytelling to scale impact.
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📝 Show Notes:
Topics
05:11 - What Yard Stick Does
Chris explains Yard Stick’s innovative in-field technology for measuring soil carbon—making it faster, cheaper, and more scalable than traditional lab methods.
08:18 - Why Soil Organic Carbon Matters
Soil carbon is the foundation for food production, soil health, and ecosystem resilience.
09:31 - Yard Stick’s Business Model
Two main revenue streams: enabling carbon credit verification for the voluntary carbon market and helping agribusinesses protect their supply chains.
14:02 - Climate Product or Economic Solution?
Chris discusses why tying soil health to business outcomes like yield stability and cost reduction may be more persuasive than pure climate framing.
18:02 - How Big Companies Will Make the Change
From corporate net-zero goals to supply chain disruptions, Chris outlines three forces that could push major players toward soil health investments.
21:26 - Is Framing as a “Climate Solution” a Dead End?
Why climate messaging can polarize—and how reframing soil health as an operational or economic priority can reach more stakeholders.
36:45 - Balancing Production and Soil Health
Chris dives into the challenge of producing more food while regenerating soils, and why “regenerative” must also mean productive.
42:16 - Revisiting the Emissions-Per-Calorie Claim
A nuanced look at why more intensive agriculture can have lower emissions per calorie, and why regional context matters.
49:10 - Messaging Yard Stick to Different Audiences
How they bridge the gap between climate-driven customers and profit-focused ones often by simply changing the framing from “soil carbon” to “soil health.”
Links
Connect with Somil on LinkedIn | Connect with Silas on LinkedIn
This podcast is NOT investment advice. Do your homework and due diligence before investing in anything discussed on this podcast.
