Anthesis' SARA programme demonstrates how regenerative land management can deliver climate, nature, and livelihood outcomes at scale
26 August 2026
The South American Regenerative Agriculture (SARA) programme has become the first regenerative grazing initiative in South America to deliver carbon income directly to farmers at scale.
The SARA programme currently works with more than 140 farms – covering nearly 100,000 hectares – to implement regenerative land management practices and restore degraded grasslands. These restored landscapes provide a measurable, nature-positive contribution to global carbon removal efforts while improving biodiversity and strengthening the long-term productivity and resilience of farming systems.
The Verra-certified programme, active across Argentina, Paraguay, and Chile, has now reached a new milestone: paying the farmers in the scheme for the carbon credits generated on their land.
It is the first time a regenerative grazing programme in this region has paid farmers and land managers at scale for their work in sequestering carbon.
This represents both a direct economic benefit for the farming families who have been implementing holistic grazing planning, and a key step in establishing the carbon market as a genuine development tool for agriculture in this region.
Farmer participation and land area are expected to grow significantly as the programme scales toward a target of 500,000 hectares and a goal of surpassing one million tonnes of carbon removed annually by 2028.
SARA has been developed by Ruuts and Anthesis Group. Anthesis is a global sustainability consultancy that contributed with carbon project expertise. Ruuts is a regeneration platform that has worked with livestock farmers across South America for more than 15 years, together with Ovis 21 and its network of field technicians and specialists.
The milestone comes just months after SARA achieved its first issuance of verified carbon units (VCUs) through Verra under the VM0042 methodology – one of only ten programmes globally. It follows Anthesis’ earlier success with AgriCarbon in South Africa, the first regenerative agriculture programme in Africa to issue carbon credits under VM0042.
Together, these initiatives form part of Anthesis’ growing global portfolio of Verra-registered nature-based carbon projects, establishing the group as pioneers in this area spanning agriculture, grasslands and landscape restoration.
The farmers participating in SARA are pioneers of a new generation of ecosystem service providers, integrating livestock production with soil regeneration. Carbon payments add to the profitability gains they were already seeing from a shift in management, carried out together with Ovis 21 – Ruuts’ network of field technicians and professionals who work directly with farmers.
Farmers receive 60% of programme revenue, with an average return of US$27 per hectare achieved during SARA’s first commercialisation cycle. For an average 800-hectare farm, this creates a significant new income stream, supplemented by the indirect economic benefits of healthier soils, stronger yields, and greater resilience to climate-related risks.
The scheme demonstrates that it is possible to regenerate soil while improving production indicators and gross margin at the same time. Participating farmers receive regular training and intensive on-farm support, including ecological assessments, water infiltration tests, and soil sampling; during the first monitoring period, participating farms recorded a 33% increase in livestock productivity.
Gerardo Fioritti, who runs the La Jota y Los Migueles farms in the Buenos Aires province of Argentina, has applied this type of management since 2019. Planned grazing allowed him to increase the farm’s stocking rate and improve soil and grassland health indicators without the need for inputs.
This regeneration process has translated into concrete results through the SARA programme for the farmer: “We’re enrolled with Ruuts to collect carbon credits, and in fact we already are,” he told us.
“We’ve had very encouraging results, around three tonnes per hectare per year on average of carbon sequestration, and we’re collecting the first credits that were sold this quarter. We’re very happy with the result.”
The programme is based on Holistic Management, a decision-making framework that takes account of the business, the environment, and people’s quality of life – an adaptive approach applied to the specific context and realities of each farm.
Behind every payment is a Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) system that combines advanced ecological monitoring and robust carbon modelling with farmer-led land management, peer learning, community engagement, and ongoing technical support. This work is carried out through the network of accredited Ovis 21 technicians trained through the Regeneration School and years of mentorship, who provide not only technical guidance to farmers but also measure ecological indicators such as biodiversity, soil cover, water infiltration, and soil carbon.
All monitoring data is recorded via the Ruuts Monitoring App, integrated with remote sensing technologies, enabling a fully digitised Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) system aligned with the Grassland Regeneration and Sustainability Standard (GRASS). It is this combination of technology and fieldwork that turns every regenerated hectare into a verifiable credit.
A portion of the 210,000 verified credits has already been placed on the market, with US$1.2million (£900,000) generated through the sale of SARA carbon credits in its first cycle. The remaining volume is ready for new buyers.
To find out more about the SARA programme or explore collaboration opportunities, please email [email protected].
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