What is the name of your organization?
Húmica
What is the name of your solution?
Soil Exponential Regeneration
Provide a one-line summary or tagline for your solution.
A regenerative model using native pioneer species, biochar, and soil biotech to drive exponential carbon removal and territorial restoration.
In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?
Teziutlán, Pue., México
In what country is your solution team headquartered?
Mexico
What type of organization is your solution team?
For-profit, including B-Corp or similar models
Film your elevator pitch.
What specific problem are you solving?
We are tackling the convergence of three systemic problems: soil degradation, smallholder farmer uncertainty, and unreliable climate finance.
Globally, over 2 billion hectares of soil are degraded, threatening food systems, biodiversity, and the carbon cycle. In Mexico, more than 60% of agricultural soils are degraded, particularly in Indigenous and rural regions. This results in lower yields, water stress, and rising input costs—conditions that force smallholder producers into economic instability and climate-driven migration. Smallholders feed up to 80% of the population in many countries, yet often earn only 1–5% of the final value of their crops.
Each year, soils release about 4% of their stored carbon, a flux ten times higher than global fossil fuel emissions. Restoring soil carbon is essential, but rarely addressed in scalable, community-driven ways.
Meanwhile, climate finance fails to reach producers at scale. Carbon offset markets lack credibility—up to 90% of forest carbon credits are considered “junk” by experts—and often exclude producers or even displace them.
This is a trust, equity, and land crisis.
We aim to intervene at the intersection: where degraded land, unmet climate targets, and smallholder exclusion converge—affecting the climate, food security, and human dignity at once.
What is your solution?
Húmica designed an exponential soil carbon removal model by transforming degraded farmland and carbon-intensive paddocks into carbon sinks using biochar, native plants, and soil biotechnology.
Our system operates through three regenerative cycles:
Pioneer species establishment: We plant native pioneers—such as Bambusa spp., Gliricidia sepium spp., or regionally adapted trees—that thrive in degraded soils and rapidly sequester CO₂. Within 5–7 years, these species trigger ecological succession, forming new forests or tropical jungles where none existed—restoring landscapes in record time.
Biochar production: As biomass matures, we sustainably harvest a portion to produce biochar through localized pyrolysis. It is then returned to the same land, enhancing fertility, water retention, and locking carbon away for millennia—closing the loop.
Biochar biological enhancement: We convert biochar into customized biofertilizers using low-tech, community-based methods. By integrating native microbiomes, we create a synergistic “compound interest” effect that accelerates regeneration and long-term carbon storage.
Each cycle builds on the last, compounding annually to deliver exponential environmental, agricultural, and social impact.
Our Tiyat™ platform provides geospatial tracking and MRV, enabling smallholder farmers to generate credible carbon insetting data for corporate partners.
Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?
Our solution primarily serves smallholder farmers in tropical and subtropical regions, especially those managing degraded lands and living in conditions of economic and climate uncertainty.
These farmers—often from Indigenous or rural communities—face compounding challenges: declining soil fertility, extreme weather, low yields, limited access to technology or climate finance, and unstable income. Many earn just 1–5% of the final value of the food they produce and remain excluded from sustainability markets despite being key to food systems and land stewardship.
Húmica addresses this gap by bringing climate finance and regenerative technology directly to their plots. Through our exponential carbon removal model, farmers receive training, tools, and locally-adapted systems to regenerate their land using biochar, native trees, and soil microbiology.
This approach improves their soil fertility, water retention, crop yields, and resilience to climate shocks, while unlocking new revenue streams through carbon insetting and regenerative supply chains. They gain access to verified environmental metrics via our Tiyat™ platform, enabling them to build transparent partnerships with companies aiming to decarbonize.
Ultimately, our solution empowers smallholder farmers to become climate leaders, turning degraded land into a long-term source of ecological, social, and economic regeneration. https://thoughtforfood.org/content-hub/meet-humica-a-mexican-startup-on-a-mission-to-solve-climate-change-by-reviving-ancient-soil-tech/
