About Us
Ag Methane Advisors, LLC is a niche consulting firm specializing in agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting. Our work focuses on creating environmental commodities from dairy biogas. We support farms, utilities and project developers that operate methane digesters and generate renewable natural gas (RNG) and electricity from the biogas. Our services enable our clients to create and sell carbon offsets, Low Carbon Fuels Standard (LCFS) credits, and Renewable Energy Credits (RECs). We also provide strategic analysis of the opportunities provided by the Renewable Fuels Standard Renewable Identification Number (RIN) market.
Meet Our Team
Patrick Wood
Founder
Patrick is the Founder of Ag Methane Advisors, a niche consulting firm that helps livestock producers reap the benefits of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. For the past 14 years, his primary focus has been on the various environmental commodities (offsets, LCFS credits, RECs, and RINs) available to dairy biogas producers. Patrick has a background in production agriculture and a Master’s degree in applied/ecological economics from the University of Vermont. His role at Ag Methane is focused on overseeing the company’s direction and operations, managing client relationships and developing new opportunities for Ag Methane and its clients. Outside of work he enjoys spending time with his family, skiing, biking, hiking, swimming and generally being outside as much as possible.
Bryan Stolzenburg
Carbon Project Manager
Bryan is a graduate from the University of Vermont with a B.S. in Environmental Science. He grew up on a family-run dairy farm in upstate New York, where he learned the ins and outs of the dairy business, and gained an immense appreciation for the natural world, which instilled in him a passion for sustainability, environmental remediation, and climate change mitigation. In June of 2021, Bryan began working for Ag Methane Advisors, starting his journey into the world of environmental commodities and dairy related greenhouse gas accounting. As a Carbon Project Manager, he is leveraging his innate knowledge of dairy operations and environmental systems. His role at Ag Methane is focused on data analysis, GHG quantification, and reporting for Ag Methane’s clients. On top of work, Bryan enjoys playing guitar, reading about philosophy, cooking, and tries to get outside as much as he can.
Serena Best
Business Manager & Carbon Project Analyst
Serena owns and operates a grass-fed beef farm in the Connecticut River Valley of Vermont (Ancestral Farm, LLC) and has a B.S. in Computer Science from Wentworth Institute of Technology. She has over 15 years’ experience in information technology in multiple industries with a focus on quality assurance. She loves working on her farm and has a great interest in applying regenerative farming practices to her operation. She is also a member of NOFA-VT Soil Cohort group, where she collaborates with other farms throughout Vermont to learn, contribute and create practices to enhance soil health on their land. Her role at Ag Methane is focused on developing organizational systems to ensure the company's client services and internal operations are efficient, accurate and run smoothly. She also has a husband, two growing boys and a large dog (Zeus) that she loves to spend time with!
Deborah Thomas
Carbon Project Analyst
Deborah is a graduate of Columbia University, NY with an MS in Sustainability Management. She was introduced to the field of sustainability during her time studying Environmental Biotechnology at her undergrad university in India. Her prior work experience includes working on a wide spectrum of carbon projects in the voluntary market. Her work involved assessing the eligibility of projects to receive carbon credits, carbon offset accounting, and reporting for clients. She joined Ag Methane in November of 2023 with the zeal to continue her work in carbon markets with a focus on the livestock industry. Her role at Ag Methane is focused on GHG quantification and reporting for Ag Methane’s clients. Besides work, she plays badminton semi-professionally, enjoys exploring new places and restaurants, and loves to pet dogs.
Our Services
We believe that agricultural producers can contribute to climate change mitigation and environmental sustainability in many ways. We recognize that financial viability is often the deciding factor between an array of best management practices, and technology adoption choices. Our services are designed to enable agricultural producers and project developers to reap the benefit of incentives that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reward environmental performance and produce renewable energy.
Farmers across the United States are creating innovative ecologically sound solutions to the
current energy, environmental, and climate challenges of our time. Our customized services
allow them to monetize, and profit from the social and environmental benefits that
agricultural sustainability and renewable energy projects create.
We work as a hired consultant allowing digester operators to retain 100% ownership of their credits, and provide strategic planning, financial valuation, project monitoring, data management, verification management, registration, and credit marketing/sale.
Livestock Anaerobic Digestion
The core of Ag Methane Advisors work is carbon offset and LCFS accounting for dairies that operate methane digesters. We have over 13 years of experience in this work and our domain expertise is respected nationwide. We provide a full suite of services designed to support farmers, utilities, and project developers in all aspects of monetizing methane reductions through the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) Low Carbon Fuel Standard and Cap and Trade Programs.
Carbon Offset Credits
Under California's Cap and Trade program, CARB issues Compliance Offset Credits to qualifying projects that reduce or sequester greenhouse gas emissions. Compliance Offsets are fungible commodities that represent verified GHG emissions reductions. Livestock Anaerobic Digestion projects are issued offset credits for reduced methane emissions compared to those that occurred before the project began, referred to as "baseline" emissions. Reductions are achieved through the generation of renewable natural gas (RNG) or renewable electricity from the use of biogas, utilizing methane that would have been emitted into the atmosphere.
Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) Credits
CARB’s LCFS allows fuel producers to apply for a Carbon Intensity (CI) score related to the production of their low GHG emission fuels. The lower the CI score the higher the number of credits produced. Dairy biogas projects are unique from most other low carbon fuels because operation of the anaerobic digester avoids methane emissions to the atmosphere. Methane (CH4) is a potent greenhouse gas many times more polluting than carbon dioxide. By avoiding these methane emissions, the CI score for dairy biogas/RNG projects can actually be negative. This has allowed project developers to create exceptional value in recent years.
Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs)
The U.S. EPA's Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) created under the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act provides a mandate for the production of fuels derived from renewable biomass sources. Implementation of the RFS is based on a system of Renewable Identification Number (RIN) credits. RINs are a valuable fungible commodity representing the greenhouse gas emissions reductions associated with renewable fuel production. The ambitious mandate has led to a high value for RINs, but the commodity can only be created when renewable fuels are used for transportation. Most biogas used for transportation is converted to Renewable Natural Gas (RNG), Biogas is also often used to create electricity which can be used in an electric vehicle (EV) for transportation. Several industry groups are pushing U.S. EPA to allow the generation of eRINs from the biogas to EV pathway.
