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Bayer Carbon Getting Your Data Ready

When it comes to earning rewards through the Bayer Carbon Program, accurate field data is the foundation of your enrollment.

Providing detailed, verifiable information helps confirm your eligibility and ensures you receive credit for the regenerative practices you’ve already put in place.

Below, we’ve outlined exactly what you’ll need to prepare and how to make the process as smooth as possible.

To calculate your baseline and verify practice changes, you’ll submit data for the four years prior to your practice change year. For example, if your first practice change was in 2020, you’d provide data beginning in 2016 through the current crop year.

Your data should cover several key categories:

  • Cash Crop Planting – crop species, planting dates, field splits, and double-cropped acres.

  • Cover Crop Planting – species, rates, termination, and crop use (baled, grazed, or harvested).

  • Fertility Applications – application dates, products used, and methods (spring, in-season, and fall applications).

  • Tillage Practices – equipment type, tillage depth, strip-till width, and whether fields were burned.

  • Harvest Information – yield, residue management, and whether crops were desiccated before harvest.

  • Additional Inputs – manure and lime applications, rates, and irrigation methods.

Nitrogen Management Data (Corn Acres Only)

If you’re participating in the nitrogen management program, you’ll also need:

  • 2–4 years of nitrogen application history for your enrolled acres

  • Receipts or records showing nitrogen purchased or applied per crop year

  • Documentation for both your baseline and current year (with at least a 5% reduction from baseline).

Acceptable records include receipts, agronomist notes, FSA or NRCS documents, and co-op application reports.

What Counts as Evidence for Practice Change

You’ll need supporting documentation for every practice you’ve implemented—especially cover crops and strip-till/reduced-till systems.

Examples of accepted documentation include:

  • Seed or equipment receipts

  • Agronomist or co-op notes

  • FSA or NRCS records

  • Depreciation schedules

  • Termination or aerial-application records

  • Equipment photos or custom-applicator records

These records help verify that practices were implemented as reported and support your carbon credit generation.

Why It Matters

The Bayer Carbon Program is built on transparency, accuracy, and trust. By maintaining clear, consistent documentation of your field practices, you’re helping ensure both the integrity of your data and the long-term value of your carbon rewards.

Ready to Start?

Preparing your documentation early makes enrollment faster and easier. Then, when you’re ready, log in to your ForGround account to begin entering your data and see how your regenerative practices can start paying off.