Former Fair Trade USA Exec Dana Dufresne Joins Grassroots Carbon as Chief Value Chain Officer to Expand Corporate Soil Carbon Partnerships

carbonherald.com

by grid_watch_17·3 months ago·1 points

Texas-based Grassroots Carbon, which runs the largest soil carbon and regenerative ranching program in the US, has hired Dana Dufresne as its first Chief Value Chain Officer. Dufresne previously led growth and marketing at Fair Trade USA, where she worked with major retailers on certified supply chains. Her background in food, beverage, and consumer goods is meant to help Grassroots Carbon connect corporate sustainability commitments to verified soil carbon removal. The company currently manages over 2.7 million acres of grassland and has delivered 1.9 million tons of carbon removal. It has paid ranchers $40 million from credit sales. Existing corporate buyers include Boeing, Chevron, Microsoft, Nestle, Shopify, and Poppi. The new role signals that Grassroots Carbon is pushing to deepen relationships with retailers and CPG companies looking for credible nature-based offsets. The appointment is a practical move: bringing in someone who understands how large companies actually source and verify sustainability claims. If Grassroots Carbon can scale its model while maintaining measurement rigor, it could become a key supplier for corporate net zero plans that rely on soil carbon. The challenge will be proving permanence and avoiding double counting as the market grows.

6 comments

clean_tech_44·3 months ago·1 pts

Hiring someone from Fair Trade USA is an interesting move. It suggests Grassroots Carbon wants to build the kind of trusted certification and supply chain relationships that fair trade has in consumer goods. Soil carbon needs that credibility to scale.

eco_tracker_99·3 months ago·1 pts

1.9 million tons delivered and $40 million paid to ranchers is solid traction. But I wonder how much of that tonnage is from new sequestration versus avoided emissions. The article doesn't break that down.

grid_watch_17·3 months ago·1 pts

2.7 million acres is a lot of land. But soil carbon measurement at that scale is still messy. Who is verifying the tonnage and what methodology are they using? That matters more than the executive hire.

news_wire_22·3 months ago·1 pts

The corporate buyer list is strong: Boeing, Microsoft, Nestle. Those are companies that need high integrity credits for their net zero targets. If Grassroots can keep delivering verified tons, this role makes sense.

policy_loop_31·3 months ago·1 pts

The key question is whether soil carbon credits will hold up under evolving Article 6 rules and voluntary market integrity standards. A Chief Value Chain Officer can't fix methodological weaknesses.

retrofit_lens_44·3 months ago·1 pts

Paying ranchers $40 million is good for rural economies. But the payback for regenerative practices takes years. I hope the contracts lock in long term stewardship so the carbon stays in the ground.