Current payments available for ‘carbon farming’ approaches are unlikely to prove a sufficient incentive for farmers in the U.S. — but quantifying and rewarding the benefits beyond climate mitigation could help to overcome this.
That’s according to a report from the Center for Growth and Opportunity, which suggests that carbon markets are not offering high enough prices to get quality sequestration projects off the ground.
This results from a failure to properly account for the true impact of regenerative agriculture practices such as reduced tillage, cover cropping and crop rotation, said the report’s author Harrison Naftel. Such effects include reduced soil erosion, water quality improvements and the creation of improved habitat for wildlife.
“In effect, the seller of a carbon offset is generating a positive externality. Thus, the price offered for carbon is lower than the true value of the practice, given its external benefits,” wrote Naftel.
Time to improve markets?
The solution, he said, could be to either build these benefits into offset prices, or create new markets trading each benefit separately.
Increased involvement from the U.S. Government could also help, he noted, pointing to the $22 billion of farming subsidies currently offered to farmers based on various industry outcomes and suggesting that some of these funds could be channelled into supporting carbon farming practices.
Another option could be to introduce a labelling scheme along the lines of the USDA’s certification of organic produce, which would enable ‘carbon neutral’ products to be marketed at a premium.
The value of information
Simply providing better information to farmers in the U.S. could also have a significant impact, he continued, with local government extension agents a potentially trusted conduit to help improve knowledge of the practicalities and benefits of soil improvement approaches.
“Research shows that farmers may even be more interested in the co-benefits of carbon sequestration for the health of their land than possible income from carbon markets,” he said.
“Simply providing free and reliable information through extension offices may be enough to encourage more farmers to take on carbon farming practices for their own sake and without the added income from offset sales.”
As well as the need to fully account for the wide package of benefits that can be achieved through regenerative agriculture, there are still issues to iron out over measurement and verification of soil carbon sequestration, Naftel added. These are being addressed through a raft of ongoing research, which includes incorporating technologies such as machine learning and new measurement approaches using infrared light.
