Sponsor questions, answered.

Questions and answers

What are the three numbers?

Benchmark efficiency: Efficiency against a published benchmark, for the farm's own fields. A performance claim, not a reduction. Measured reduction: Measured reduction against the farm's own weather-adjusted history. Measured and signed by AgWaterAI, not independently validated. Validated benefit: Validated volumetric benefit under VWBA 2.0, baseline capped at the allocation, independent validator named.

Which number is available now?

The benchmark number is available from one full season of the farm’s own pump records or meters, or of the GSA’s satellite ETAW where the GSA accounts in it. Run-time records with the block application rate produce a figure on the run-time basis, stated on the record. Each record states its source and is compared with a published estimate on the same basis. A partial season is not compared with an annual benchmark. Availability of a comparison does not establish a reduction or a validated benefit.

What may a sponsor say publicly about each label?

Benchmark efficiency: We fund monitoring of orchard water use compared with a published county benchmark. Measured reduction: We funded a measured reduction in applied water against the farm’s own weather-adjusted history, measured and signed by AgWaterAI, not independently validated. Validated benefit: We funded a volumetric water benefit under VWBA 2.0, validated by the named independent validator. These are examples for use when the corresponding record supports them. The sponsor’s own counsel reviews any public claim.

What does independent validation add?

An independent validator reviews the baseline, measurements and accounting controls, using VWBA 2.0 accounting guidance. The validator is named on the record when review is complete. Guidance alone is not validation. The validated baseline is capped at the lower of the farm’s history and its GSA allocation. Until review is complete, the measured reduction remains not independently validated. No validator has been appointed as of October 2026.

How is a record checked?

A signed record identifies its label, season and method version. The signature is re-checked on every public lookup at agwaterai.com/verify/unit. The signing method is patent-pending. Signing lets a reader check that the record has not changed since signing; it does not establish measurement accuracy or independent validation.

What does the grower keep?

The grower keeps allocation and water rights. The grower receives a share of sponsor payments, net of validation costs. Nothing is promised until a sponsor signs.

What are the grower’s two promises?

No sale or transfer of the water left in the ground, for the benefit period. No added irrigated acres on the enrolled farm unit, for the benefit period. These apply to the enrolled farm unit during the benefit period. The crop adviser makes every irrigation call.

How is double counting prevented?

One volumetric claim per block and season, by the sponsor that funded it. The grower does not sell or transfer the water behind a recorded reduction. The program screens for public programs: acres already paid for through fallowing or land repurposing are excluded for those years. A required GSA pumping cut does not count. Proposed project controls screen GSA transfers, carryover, later pumping, regulatory obligations and overlapping funded activities; final treatment follows the accepted project method and the applicable GSA account rules.

What is the benchmark and its source?

The benchmark uses California Department of Water Resources county estimates from Statewide Agricultural Water Use Data 2016-2020 (2024), averaging water years 2016 to 2019. Applied water is compared with the county sheet Regional_AW_Unit_County. The GSA’s satellite ETAW is compared with the county sheet Regional_ETaw_Unit_County, on the same consumptive-use basis, never with applied water. They are modeled county estimates for a crop category. Comparing a farm’s water figure with them is a performance comparison, not a reduction. The method page gives the values, citations and qualifications.

What happens in a zero season?

A zero or negative season stays in the record as a zero. No volumetric claim is issued for it. Measured volume is paid when measured; a zero season has no measured volume to pay for. A benchmark comparison remains a separate number supported by that season’s evidence.

How is sponsor pricing set?

Sponsor pricing is set once sponsors give their indications. The benchmark number is priced per sponsored acre per season, and the measured reduction per acre-foot actually measured. Nothing is promised until a sponsor signs.

What is the timeline?

Benchmark records for the 2026 season are available now where a complete season is on file; Madera County records, for farm units confirmed in the applicable Madera County GSA account, use the GSA’s satellite ETAW on the calendar year and become final in January. Measured reduction is planned for the 2027 season where the required history and measurement conditions are met. Validated benefit for the 2027 vintage follows after the 2027 season and the independent review. These stages are conditional, not a promise of volume.

Who makes irrigation decisions?

The crop adviser makes every irrigation call. AgWaterAI brings together pump records, soil moisture probes, pressure chamber readings and weather, drafts the water order, and keeps the record. The adviser reviews and issues the order. Sponsorship does not give the sponsor control of irrigation.

What data is public, and how is farm privacy protected?

Public records show region, crop, season and acres rounded to the nearest 10, never the farm. The grower keeps raw data. Evidence and block identities can be shared with a sponsor under a confidentiality agreement with the grower’s authorization. Public lookup lets a reader check a signed record without publishing farm identities.

What is the program status?

Program status, October 2026: This program is being set up. No sponsor has signed, no volume has been independently validated, no independent validator is appointed yet, and no methodology has been approved. An independent pre-validation review has been requested. Everything below describes how projects will work.