Prairie farmers might get an idea of how much the carbon in their soil is worth later this year.
The Saskatchewan Soil Conservation Association hopes to do a pilot carbon credit trade sometime in the next 12 months.
John Bennett of Biggar, Sask., a SSCA past president involved with the issue, said the deal’s structure is important because if done wrong, a new environmental market designed to reward farmers could wind up hurting them.
Carbon credit trading became a possibility with the Kyoto treaty on global warming. The treaty’s goal is to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, either by reducing their production or by locking them in carbon sinks.
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Farmland can become a carbon sink if farmers build up the organic carbon component through practices such as reduced tillage.
The concept of carbon credit trading was developed because of the high cost of changing technology to cut carbon emissions. A carbon emitter can meet its targets without lowering its output by buying carbon sinks from those who create them, such as farmers.
But Bennett believes that if farmers sell their carbon sinks, they will restrict their management abilities and increase their risks.
Selling the sink imposes a responsibility to permanently maintain it.
The buyer will want a conservation easement on the title.
This restriction could lower the land’s value and tie the farmer’s hands. If for some reason tillage becomes necessary, such as to control herbicide resistant weeds, the farmer is liable to pay the buyer for the lost sink.
Bennett believes leasing is the better option.
Farmers would lease the value of their carbon sinks for five years. If the farmer continues to build carbon at the end of that time, he can lease it again. If he has to till the soil, he forgoes the lease.
This plan also recognizes carbon sink value fluctuations. Bennett believes that as the seriousness of global warming becomes more apparent and governments crack down on polluters, carbon sinks will become more valuable.
The concept will also encourage a responsible attitude among carbon emitters, he said. Carbon sinks should be seen only as a transitional tool, allowing emitters to meet their target while they are implementing new technology that will permanently reduce their carbon production.
