A Scottish-based firm which spreads soil-enhancing crushed volcanic rock on agricultural land at no cost to the farmer, now has a global reach.

The firm, UNDO, spreads basalt, a quarrying by-product containing a wide range of nutrients including potassium, calcium and potassium on fields. It also has an alkalising effect on soil, improving pH over time, making nutrients, such as phosphate, more available to plants and is suitable for all farming types and is accredited by a number of organic farming organisations.

The firm said the project could reduce the amount of artificial fertiliser required and cost savings from reducing the need for lime.

Key to funding the system is the positive environmental impact of basalt which captures carbon through an enhanced rock weathering system (ERW). This is a scalable technology which accelerates the natural geological process of weathering, where the CO2 in rainwater interacts with silicate rocks such as basalt and captures the carbon for millennia.

The measurable emission reductions from the system are then sold on in the form of carbon credits. The sale of the carbon credits allows Undo to provide and spread basalt on farms free of charge.

The firm, founded in 2022 is already seeing strong growth from its central belt origins and is now operating in the US. Joe Ritchie, business development manager for UNDO, said: “A project can be turned around in as little as two weeks to suit the farmers needs.

“We do low level soil sampling depending on the number of hectares to get a baseline. Once the sampling has been done we agree where the basalt will be delivered and how it will be spread. Everything is done for the farmer, including haulage, the contractor to spread the basalt and we buy the rock – we always ensure the contractor is local to the area.

“The spreading of basalt rock is not new. It has always been a material that farmers have been interested in because of the nutrients in it. However, it was previously not feasible because the return did not justify the cost of the material.

“Now that you put in the carbon capture element to it, it flips it completely on its head and we can give it away for free, funded by selling carbon credits and that allows it to be scaled up. Before, it was a low-level cottage industry, but now we can go global with it because there is such a demand for carbon credits.

“We have shown on our first trial at Newcastle University that there has been an increase in yield on spring oats and there is another thirty trials going on this year, so as the year goes on, we’ll have more and more factual evidence and we already have huge amount of anecdotal evidence.”

Last year UNDO spread approximately 24,000 tonnes of basalt. This year, in Central Scotland alone, the firm has spread 10,000 tonnes, with a burgeoning order book in the domestic and international markets.

Mr Ritchie said there was a strong growth for the industry. “There is good double-edged sword for this. If you see the pressure that farmers are getting from the supply chain about reducing their carbon footprint, there is good agronomic benefits for the farmer as well.

“If you look at the bigger picture, they can go to their supply chain and say, this what we are putting down, it’s totally natural and very positive.

The firm uses six quarries across Scotland and three in the north of England that are already approved following geological testing for suitability.

John Logan, who farms cattle at 140-acre Blairmains, and has diversified into the likes of a coffee and farm shop said he got involved after seeing the effect of basalt rock spread on a nearby field and hopes to achieve better quality grass and return nutrients into the soil.

He said: “I feel I’m also doing my bit for the environment and if everybody does a bit, we’ll get there. If we can keep the price of growing the grass cheaper, it will surely make it cheaper to produce the cattle and hopefully it will make it cheaper for everybody.”

One of the firms purchasing carbon credits to fund the project is Microsoft. In a landmark deal, the global software giant will see 25,000 tonnes of basalt spread on agricultural land in the UK.

This agreement will see the removal of around 5000 tonnes of CO2 over the next 20 years and forms part of the global software giant’s strategy to be carbon negative by 2030 and removing all of its historic CO2 emissions by 2050.

Rafael Broze, engineered carbon removal lead at Microsoft, said: “Enhanced rock weathering offers a great deal of potential, and we are excited by the prospect of having this nature-enabled approach as an additional pillar of our permanent carbon removal portfolio.”