Agriculture has been supplying food, fibre and fuel as provisioning services, but is under severe distress due to low incomes. The farms also regulate climate, surface water flows, ground water levels, and waste assimilation and breakdown besides offering water purification. But there’s currently no mechanism to compensate the farmers for these services. However, modern agriculture with its excessive groundwater extraction, over use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides and straw burning is also causing a number of disservices. In this scenario, a mechanism to pay the farmers for ecological services they offer can work on two levels: it will ensure a guaranteed income to the farmers and it will prompt them to adopt sustainable farming practices like organic farming which will fetch higher incentives.