REGINA Ñ Following nearly a decade of groundwork, the Saskatchewan Soil Conservation Association has announced the first carbon trade in Canada involving farmers.
“Since 1996, the Saskatchewan Soil Conservation Association has been working on the possibility of carbon trading and returning value to farmers through the storage of carbon in the soil,” said Darryl Reynolds, a farmer from Nokomis and SSCA president.
He said the association has established a pilot project to trade greenhouse gas credits gained through zero tillage or direct seeding practices, which both encourage carbon to be stored in soil.
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The project aims to learn more about the carbon trading process involving agricultural soil sinks. The $1 million project is expected to return $11for each tonne of carbon dioxide stored over the three-year life of the project.
Reynolds said the plan involves 210 farmers from across Canada. Projects are limited to 247 acres per farmer participant. The SSCA plans to sign agreements with 100 farmers from Saskatchewan, 71 from Alberta, 25 in Manitoba, four in British Columbia’s Peace area and 10 in Ontario.
Participation is limited to members of the B.C. Grain Grower’s Association, the Alberta Conservation Tillage Society, the Man-Dak Zero Tillage Farmers Association and the Innovative Farmers Association of Ontario.
The project has been approved by Environment Canada’s Pilot Emission Removals, Reductions and Learning Initiative.
Blair McClinton of the SSCA said the definition of zero tillage provided by the initiative is to use a narrow opener that disturbs no more than 33 percent of the seedbed, equivalent to a three-inch opener on a nine-inch row spacing. Seeders must have on-row packing and farmers cannot till or band in the fall, remove or burn residue.
Other requirements include no in-crop cultivation, no removal of crop through silage, grazing, greenfeed, hay or straw baling and no manure applications.
Permitted practices include harrows or land rollers to level land in pulse crops, chemfallow in brown and dark-brown soils, post-harvest harrowing, post-emergent fertilization if it is broadcast or the opener is narrow, and chaff removal at harvest.
“For the purposes of our agreement, the only thing a farmer needs to do is practise zero tillage for the years of the program,” said McClinton.
Payouts vary depending on the region. Farmers in brown and dark brown soil zones will receive $2.38 an acre, or $587.24 each year. Farmers in the black and grey soil zones receive $5.43 an acre, or $1,340.68 each year. Non-prairie participants will receive $1.88 an acre or $465.36 each year.
McClinton said third party audits will verify processes in 20 percent of the participants. Farmers could expect payment in early winter, following approval from Environment Canada, he said.
“If for some reason a farmer does not meet the definition of zero tillage, they would not get paid their $11 a tonne for that particular year.”
Reynolds said the initiative is an Environment Canada plan that allows the department and the SSCA to learn about carbon trading.
“This is a first baby step in carbon trading, but we are happy to be putting value into the pockets of farmers. We hope this will lead to bigger trades in the future, as the potential of the agricultural soil sink is enormous,” said Reynolds.
In the future, carbon trading could lead to a system in which companies that exceed their carbon dioxide emissions allowance buy carbon credits, which encourage farmers to use practices that store carbon in soil.
“Studies have shown that up to one tonne of carbon dioxide could be stored per acre per year in Saskatchewan, and we have somewhere in the neighbourhood of 40 million acres.”
With room for 100 farmers in Saskatchewan and a membership of 800, Reynolds expects the SSCA will hold a lottery to select participants.
Deadline for applications is April 29.
McClinton said 53,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide will be stored over the three years of the project.
The carbon bought from farmers by Environment Canada in this pilot project will not be used in any trades. There is currently no resale of the carbon being purchased and the credits will be retired at the end of the project.
