Yard Stick
Yard Stick PBC is a Cambridge, MA-based Public Benefit Corporation that uses handheld VisNIR spectroscopy to measure soil organic carbon in the field, selling measurement services to farmers, corporate carbon buyers, and soil carbon program developers across 26 US states.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2021
- HeadquartersCambridge, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Yard Stick does
Yard Stick PBC is a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Public Benefit Corporation founded in 2021 that provides in-situ soil carbon measurement services to agricultural enterprises, corporations with Scope 3 emission targets, and soil carbon program developers. The company addresses the historically high cost and complexity of measuring soil organic carbon — a bottleneck that has constrained the credibility and scale of agricultural carbon markets — by replacing traditional physical core sampling and combustion-based laboratory analysis with a handheld spectral probe that uses visible and near-infrared (VisNIR) spectroscopy to quantify soil carbon stocks in the field. Field operations are currently deployed across 26 US states and have covered hundreds of thousands of acres, including six USDA Climate-Smart Commodities projects spanning millions of acres.
Yard Stick firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Yard Stick
- Legal name
- Yard Stick PBC
- Website
- https://useyardstick.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2021
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Yard Stick PBC is a Cambridge, MA-based Public Benefit Corporation that uses handheld VisNIR spectroscopy to measure soil organic carbon in the field, selling measurement services to farmers, corporate carbon buyers, and soil carbon program developers across 26 US states.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Yard Stick industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Agricultural Carbon Measurement Technology
- NAICS
- Geophysical Surveying and Mapping Services (54136)
- SIC
- Laboratory Analytical Instruments (3826), Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Soil & Biomass Carbon Measurement (Soil Sampling, Forest Inventory, Blue Carbon) (EUABACAH)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Agriculture & Land-Use MRV (Soil carbon, livestock, forestry/REDD+) (EUAHADAI), GHG Monitoring Plans & Sampling Design (Field Protocols, QA/QC) (EUABACAE), IoT/Edge Sensor MRV (Continuous Monitoring, Metering, CEMS) (EUABACAG)
Keywords
Where Yard Stick is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Cambridge
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Yard Stick business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain
Revenue model
- Soil Carbon Measurement Services: End-to-end soil carbon measurement services combining proprietary spectral hardware and software. Customers provide field boundaries; Yard Stick handles planning, measurement, and analysis. Multi-year contracts with total contract value exceeding $17M. Revenue derived from per-project service fees and ongoing measurement programs.
- Hardware and Software Platform: Combined hardware (spectral probe) and SaaS platform offering for soil carbon measurement. The solution reduces measurement costs by 70-90% compared to traditional methods while improving analytical rigor. Revenue likely includes both initial hardware deployment and recurring software access.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Multi-year contract | Enterprise soil carbon measurement services |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels2 records
Marketing channels5 records
Yard Stick product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Yard Stick provides end-to-end in-situ soil carbon measurement services and a combined hardware-plus-software platform built on VisNIR spectroscopy. The offering consists of three components: Plan (stratification engine producing statistically-sound sample plans compliant with Verra VM0042 and CAR SEP), Measure (handheld cloud-enabled spectral probe for instant soil organic carbon measurement up to 1 meter depth), and Analyze (real-time field data platform with audit-ready dashboards for stakeholders including growers, verifiers, registries, and corporate carbon buyers).
Product overview
Yard Stick is an integrated soil carbon measurement platform consisting of three core components: Plan by Yard Stick (a web-based stratification engine for automatic field stratification and creation of statistically-sound sample plans compliant with leading soil carbon protocols), Measure by Yard Stick (a cloud-enabled handheld spectral probe using VisNIR spectroscopy for instant in-situ soil carbon measurement up to 1 meter depth), and Analyze by Yard Stick (a field data platform for real-time data collection, dashboards, and stakeholder reporting). The platform reduces soil carbon measurement costs by 70-90% while improving analytical rigor compared to traditional core sampling and lab analysis methods.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Measure by Yard Stick A cloud-enabled handheld spectral probe that uses visible and near-infrared (VisNIR) spectroscopy to measure soil organic carbon up to 1 meter depth instantly in the field, eliminating the need for physical core samples and laboratory analysis. Designed for farmers, ranchers, project developers, and corporate carbon buyers conducting agricultural carbon MRV.
- Plan by Yard Stick A web-based stratification engine that automatically stratifies project fields and creates statistically-sound and agronomically-credible sample plans compliant with major soil carbon protocols including Verra VM0042 and CAR SEP. Designed for soil carbon program developers and agricultural project operators.
- Analyze by Yard Stick A field data platform that collects measurement data in real time, ensuring data security, auditability, and instant availability with live dashboards for project progress, stock quantification, and stakeholder reporting. Designed for growers, verifiers, registries, and corporate carbon buyers.
Quantifiable outcome
- Cost reduction of 70-90% compared to traditional soil carbon measurement methods
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use Yard Stick
Customer profileNamed customers1 record
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Yard Stick technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability3 records
Feature3 records
Yard Stick partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- Soil Health Institute (SHI)coreJoint research partnership with the Soil Health Institute resulted in peer-reviewed publication in Geoderma validating Yard Stick's spectral probe technology for soil carbon measurement. SHI's Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Cristine Morgan serves on Yard Stick's scientific advisory board. Study confirmed accurate soil carbon measurement to 45cm depth through comparison with lab analysis.
Scale indicators6 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Yard Stick competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Indigo Ag: Indigo Ag operates a major agricultural carbon credit program that relies on soil carbon MRV across millions of acres, directly competing with Yard Stick for corporate Scope 3 buyers and grower participation in the soil carbon market.
- Regrow Ag: Regrow provides MRV and sustainability measurement for agricultural supply chains, combining in-field and modeled soil carbon data for Scope 3 reporting—directly overlapping Yard Stick's corporate buyer and program developer use cases.
- CIBO Technologies: CIBO offers a soil carbon quantification and certification platform for agricultural carbon programs, competing on the same protocol-aligned MRV workflows that Yard Stick serves for Verra and CAR.
- Nori: Nori runs a voluntary carbon marketplace focused on soil carbon sequestration, partnering with MRV providers and competing indirectly with Yard Stick for project developer relationships and corporate buyer dollars.
- Boomitra: Boomitra issues soil carbon credits globally using a combination of remote sensing and ground data, directly competing with Yard Stick in the soil carbon MRV and credit issuance value chain.
Emerging players
- CropX: CropX provides in-field soil sensors and analytics for precision agriculture, with overlapping customer relationships among large growers; adjacent rather than direct soil carbon MRV competition but increasingly moving into carbon and sustainability analytics.
- Soil Scout: Soil Scout manufactures buried soil sensors for continuous moisture and temperature monitoring; it is an emerging player in soil sensing that could evolve into soil carbon measurement competition over time.
Broad incumbents
- Truterra (Land O'Lakes): Truterra is the sustainability and carbon program arm of Land O'Lakes, offering soil health and carbon programs to a large ag retailer network—an incumbent in the same buyer/supplier ecosystem Yard Stick targets.
- Climate FieldView (Bayer): Climate FieldView is Bayer's precision agriculture platform with deep grower penetration and adjacent carbon/sustainability offerings; a broad incumbent that could bundle soil carbon MRV into its existing ag retailer channel.
Others
- Planet Labs: Planet Labs provides high-cadence satellite imagery increasingly used in soil carbon and agricultural MRV modeling; an enabling/competing data layer for protocol-compliant soil carbon estimation programs that Yard Stick also supports.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Yard Stick social profiles
Digital presenceYard Stick financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Yard Stick leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
Yard Stick funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds8 records
Investors16 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Yard Stick M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Yard Stick
What does Yard Stick do?
Yard Stick provides end-to-end in-situ soil carbon measurement services and a combined hardware-plus-software platform built on VisNIR spectroscopy. The offering consists of three components: Plan (stratification engine producing statistically-sound sample plans compliant with Verra VM0042 and CAR SEP), Measure (handheld cloud-enabled spectral probe for instant soil organic carbon measurement up to 1 meter depth), and Analyze (real-time field data platform with audit-ready dashboards for stakeholders including growers, verifiers, registries, and corporate carbon buyers).
Is Yard Stick a public or private company?
Yard Stick is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Yard Stick founded?
Yard Stick was founded in 2021. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Yard Stick based?
Yard Stick is headquartered in Cambridge, United States, in the North America region.
How does Yard Stick make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Soil Carbon Measurement Services are the primary driver. The others are hardware and Software Platform.
Who are Yard Stick's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Indigo Ag, Regrow Ag, CIBO Technologies, Nori and Boomitra. Emerging players are CropX and Soil Scout. Broad incumbents are Truterra (Land O'Lakes) and Climate FieldView (Bayer). Planet Labs is listed as an others.
Does Yard Stick have an API?
No public API is recorded for Yard Stick.
What industry is Yard Stick in?
Yard Stick's product category is Agricultural Carbon Measurement Technology. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EUABACAH, Soil & Biomass Carbon Measurement (Soil Sampling, Forest Inventory, Blue Carbon), with a secondary code of EUAHADAI, Agriculture & Land-Use MRV (Soil carbon, livestock, forestry/REDD+). Its NAICS code is 54136 and its SIC code is 3826.