# What consent should a carbon project record from each farmer?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/farmer-consent-carbon-project-data

Record who agreed, to what, when, how and in front of whom, in a language the farmer understands, and keep the consent text version with it. Verra's VCS Standard v5.0 also expects plain information about credits and verification, a grievance channel from the first meeting, and no pressure on anyone to agree.

## What VCS Standard v5.0 asks of the project

- Information in simple terms in the local language, with translation where needed.
- No pressure, intimidation or coercion, from the project or anyone else, and no retaliation for withholding consent.
- Access to the project's grievance channel from the earliest meetings.
- Each consultation documented: topics, decisions, attendees and signatures of group representatives.
- A record of input by source and date, with private details kept private.
- Direct contact between the verifier and stakeholders during audits and site visits.

## What farmers should be told first

- How carbon markets work and how credits are registered, verified and issued.
- What the project will do, where, for how long, and how it affects their land.
- The risks found and how they will be handled.
- Progress, including monitoring results, as the project runs.

## A consent record that holds up

- Date, place and how consent was given.
- The agent's name and the consent text version.
- What data is collected, who sees it and how long it is kept.
- How to withdraw, and what happens to the data then.
- For practice data, VM0051 accepts a digital record of the farmer confirming the information shown in an app as a signed attestation.

## When v5.0 applies

These stakeholder rules are required for Verra projects starting on or after 1 July 2027. An earlier project can still follow them, and its farmers lose nothing if it does.

## What Senseible does here

On Senseible's field app an agent registers each farmer in person and records consent: when, how, by whom and the consent text version. There are no Aadhaar, PAN or bank fields, and erasure removes a farmer's name and phone while field records stay under a pseudonymous id, as the consent text says.

- [Farmer share of credit revenue](https://senseible.earth/answers/farmer-share-of-carbon-credit-revenue)
- [Can an FPO run its own project?](https://senseible.earth/answers/fpo-run-carbon-project-itself)
- [Carbon removal projects](https://senseible.earth/carbon-removal/projects)

Sources: [Verra, VCS Standard, v5.0 (16 December 2025): Sections 3.6, 3.17 and 4.1](https://verra.org/documents/vcs-standard-v5-0/), [Verra, VM0051 v1.1 methodology document: Sections 1, 3, 4 and 9.3, Box 1 and Appendix 4 (DMRV)](https://verra.org/documents/vm0051-improved-management-in-rice-production-systems-v1-1/), [Verra, VCS Program Details: rules, versions and effective dates (v4 documents active until 1 July 2027)](https://verra.org/programs/verified-carbon-standard/vcs-program-details/)

Last reviewed 2026-11-02.