and creating carbon credits
In nature, animals take in oxygen and give off carbon dioxide. Plants take in carbon dioxide and give off oxygen. Carbon dioxide is plant food. All green plants need it to grow. These plants convert the carbon they retain into organic compounds that make up the plant.
Most of the carbon that crops capture returns to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide when crops are harvested and consumed. Some carbon can be stored, or sequestered, in the soil as organic matter. Whether this carbon is stored or released depends on the choices made by each individual farmer.
When farmland is tilled by machinery the soil layers invert, air mixes in, and microbial activity increases dramatically. Organic matter breaks down much more rapidly, releasing carbon from the soil into the atmosphere. And, when the emissions from farm machinery are considered, the result is increased carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere.
Producers who use no-till methods based on proven soil conservation techniques avoid the carbon dioxide emitting chain reaction.
Saskatchewan farmland is ideally suited to create these “carbon sinks” or carbon storage areas. Eliminating tillage allows crop residues to decompose where they lie. Growing cover crops can slow and even reverse carbon loss.
No-till farming isn’t the easy choice. Farmers make a substantial investment in time and money when they commit to no-till farming.
If carbon caps are imposed, the carbon that is sequestered by no-till farming will gain added value. The farmers who create this value through their farming practices, should receive the credit.
The most important consideration is very basic: to ensure that no-till farmers really do get credit for storing carbon.
In a regulated carbon system, a limit is placed on the amount of greenhouse gas that can be released. Any who release more than their share of the limit are penalized, or must buy credits from available carbon markets.
In a trading system where carbon release is capped, those who fall below the limit create a credit. Forests and no-till farming generally capture more carbon than they release. Forests occur naturally, but no-till farming is the result of choices and actions by farmers. No-till farming retains much more carbon than tillage methods.
If carbon reduction is a good thing, no-till farming should be encouraged. That means attaching value to the carbon that no-till practices stores. It should be eligible to earn credits.
- Recognize farming's contribution: If a price is put on carbon, farmers' fuel, power and input costs will increase. At least part of the carbon price should flow back to the farmer who stores it - via a credit.
- The farmer owns the credit: The carbon-storing capacity of agriculture shouldn't be counted as a pre-existing "national asset". It is created by farmers investing their time and money. The asset should be credited to the farmer, for his or her benefit.
- Independent verification: Farmers shouldn't have to sell their credits to a middle-man in order to certify that an asset exists. Verification and trading should be separate functions.
- Reward foresight: Early adopters of no-till should be recognized. Industrial businesses that anticipate changes and move early to reduce carbon are expected to receive credit. So should farmers.
The Saskatchewan Soil Conservation Association works to assist farmers follow soil management best practices – and to represent the interests of its members.
As the issues around carbon capture and credits continue to evolve, the SSCA is working to ensure the farmers who store the carbon, will earn a benefit deriving from their use of no-till farming.
Agriculture can play a major role in meeting Canada's part in reducing greenhouse gases. The SSCA’s overall objective is to maximize reductions and reduce emissions from agriculture, through:
- the use of best management practices, such as crop rotations, reduced tillage, soil testing and judicious fertilizer use.
- the storage of CO2 in agricultural soil as sequestered carbon and in agroforestry (soils and timber) as sinks; and
- the substitution of bio-fuels, such as biodiesel from canola and ethanol, for fossil fuels.
including:
- identifying and removing disincentives and barriers that discourage the best management practices;
- establishing incentives that encourage the adoption of farming practices that reduce emissions; and
- providing incentives to enhance greenhouse gas removal.
| The Key elements of the plan include:
|
Objective | Principle |
| Sink Acknowledgement and Enhancement of Sinks | Create and maintain as large a carbon stock as possible with agricultural soils and agroforestry. | Producers are the stewards of these stocks, so it is necessary to reduce the risk and to remove disincentives in order to maximize soil and agroforestry sink opportunities. |
| Emission Reductions | Reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the crop production system. | Establish a clear link with emissions per unit of production while recognizing the importance of food production in the national and international contest. |
| Emission Reduction Markets | Develop a market system that provides incentives to reduce emissions in agriculture. | Producers need to understand these market systems and to be as knowledgeable as possible as participants. |
| Research Initiatives | Investigate ways that science and technology can reduce emissions and increase sequestration. | Producers are the clients and scientific efforts need to consider the producers needs. |
| Biofuels | Study feasibility of biofuel (ethanol, biodiesel) production and use in agriculture. Opportunities that biodiesel and ethanol offer as blends needs to be explored. |
Click here to read the SSCA's position paper "Greenhouse Gases and Agricultural Soils:
Principles and Policy"