Workshops set for carbon credit sign-up

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GRAND ISLAND —

A number of area communities will be among the 16 Nebraska communities hosting workshops on carbon credits for farm operators and landowners.

The workshops are being sponsored by AgraGate Climate Credits Corp. Chad Martin and Lowell Mesman, aggregation specialists for AgraGate, will present the sessions Jan. 5 through Jan. 9.

Martin said the emerging carbon credits market is a new revenue opportunity for farm operators.

“Farmers with no-tillage or strip-tillage practices and those with newly seeded grasses such as CRP, hay ground or pasture, are eligible to participate,” he said.

Martin said the meetings are open to any farm operator or landowner interested in learning more about this new market.

He said to bring FSA 578s along with field maps. They will help with contracts.

AgraGate has enrolled more than 5 million carbon credits 26 states under the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX).

Carbon sequestration is the long-term storage of carbon in the soil or in the ocean so that the buildup of concentration of carbon dioxide (the principal greenhouse gas) in the atmosphere will reduce or slow.

Throughout the photosynthesis process, plants take carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as part of their growing process. The carbon ends up in plant residue and the roots system, which over time builds up in the soil.

Under the carbon exchange concept, industries that emit carbon dioxide into the atmosphere can purchase carbon credits.

Those credits allow them to offset some of those emissions through farmers who store carbon in the soil through no-till crop production that leaves 30 percent or more crop residue on the land or through long-term grass-seeding practices.

Farming practices such as no-till or unbroken range and pasture land are good methods of long-term soil carbon storage.

Additional information on the meetings is available at AgraGate by calling toll-free at (866) 633-6758 or by visiting www.agragate.com.

In related news, John Hansen, president of the Nebraska Farmers Union, said the CCX has announced that after Jan. 30, 2009, carbon credit contracts for prescribed grazing on native rangeland will no longer be eligible for the 2003-2007 bonus years. 

As a result of the CCX announcement, Hansen said that Farmers Union, an offset aggregator for CCX, has moved up the deadline for its new rangeland enrollment pool to Jan. 30. 

Completed enrollments received by that deadline that have proper documentation will still be eligible to receive 2003-2007 credits. 

He said producers will still be eligible for carbon credit enrollments for the next rangeland management pool beginning after Jan. 30, 2009, but the new contracts for the new pool will not be eligible for the bonus years reaching back to 2003.

“This is the last chance for eligible ranchers to utilize the ’reach back’ provision for the additional five years of carbon credits for years 2003-2007 years in the carbon credit Rangeland Management Program,” he said. 

Hansen said Farmers Union is encouraging eligible ranchers who have the proper documentation, including a formal grazing plan, to sign up for carbon credits before the Jan. 30 deadline.

After Jan. 30, Hansen said, the “reach back” bonus credit will be offered for 2008 only, which is similar to the no-till program. Prior carbon credit enrollments are not affected by this rule change, he said.

Ranchers can get more information and online enrollment at: www.nebraskafarmersunion.org or by calling Graham Christensen at the Nebraska Farmers Union State Office at (402) 476-8815.