Agreena.com and Carbon Credits with STW

[holwellcourtfarm]

had a call from Agreena today following my website enquiry.
However, as we are a grassland farm, farming 300ha of pp they are unable to offer us any accreditation because they said it is too difficult to measure the carbon accurately in our soils

Exactly. None of the new carbon trading zealots (by which I mean the traders, not the farmers taking part) seem to know quite what to do about grassland which happens to cover about 75% of UK farmland.....

 

[spin cycle]

Are you responsible for ensuring that the sequestered carbon remains in the soil for ever more?

exactly.....i can't see how it'll ever work...i mean if land is ploughed up in future all the stored co2 will be released surely making it pointless

carpet bagging ponzi schemes IMO

 

[ajd132]

exactly.....i can't see how it'll ever work...i mean if land is ploughed up in future all the stored co2 will be released surely making it pointless

carpet bagging ponzi schemes IMO

What’s the alternative? Hundreds of thousands of acres bought up by wealth and planted with trees.
I know that some of these companies are trying to work out how to do livestock farms.
this whole carbon thing is much bigger than us, or the companies providing the platforms to produce food and sell carbon. It’s happening world wide, whether you agree with it or not.

 

[spin cycle]

What’s the alternative? Hundreds of thousands of acres bought up by wealth and planted with trees.
I know that some of these companies are trying to work out how to do livestock farms.
this whole carbon thing is much bigger than us, or the companies providing the platforms to produce food and sell carbon. It’s happening world wide, whether you agree with it or not.

trees better

 

[Muddyroads]

trees better

Only in the short term, possibly.

 

[ajd132]

trees better

I’d rather produce food and farm in a way that can also sequester carbon than just wholesale tree planting. But each to their own.

 

[spin cycle]

Only in the short term, possibly.

I’d rather produce food and farm in a way that can also sequester carbon than just wholesale tree planting. But each to their own.

look at it this way from the perspective of a small farmer

1/ corporate business buys your land and plants trees on it....co2 is sequestrated...at least planted trees have some protection
2/ corporate money pays agribusiness. to sequester co2 through this imo 'swindle'......agribusiness uses the money to buy up small farms and sells sequestration to corporations and so on

both scenarios the small farmer is swallowed up (thats life) BUT at least with the trees the original purpose of sequestration is achieved....OK the trees can be cut down in the future but i can't see whats to stop the soil carbon capture land being ploughed up a lot sooner ...the co2 released and the whole ponzi scheme started again

 

[steveR]

look at it this way from the perspective of a small farmer

1/ corporate business buys your land and plants trees on it....co2 is sequestrated...at least planted trees have some protection
2/ corporate money pays agribusiness. to sequester co2 through this imo 'swindle'......agribusiness uses the money to buy up small farms and sells sequestration to corporations and so on

both scenarios the small farmer is swallowed up (thats life) BUT at least with the trees the original purpose of sequestration is achieved....OK the trees can be cut down in the future but i can't see whats to stop the soil carbon capture land being ploughed up a lot sooner ...the co2 released and the whole ponzi scheme started again

It's all seems a bit bonkers IMO, but what do I know.....

Some would say the same about 30 odd ha of Bumblebird and WB mix growing here now... I'm just taking the dosh and improving my soils at the same time. Oh yes, and providing food and habitat for the birdies and insects!

 

[ajd132]

look at it this way from the perspective of a small farmer

1/ corporate business buys your land and plants trees on it....co2 is sequestrated...at least planted trees have some protection
2/ corporate money pays agribusiness. to sequester co2 through this imo 'swindle'......agribusiness uses the money to buy up small farms and sells sequestration to corporations and so on

both scenarios the small farmer is swallowed up (thats life) BUT at least with the trees the original purpose of sequestration is achieved....OK the trees can be cut down in the future but i can't see whats to stop the soil carbon capture land being ploughed up a lot sooner ...the co2 released and the whole ponzi scheme started again

I’m not really trying to make suggestions about anything.
Apart from that this stuff is happening, regardless of size of farm or whatever we need to embrace food and carbon at the same time otherwise we will be left in the shitter agai, as usual.

 

[spin cycle]

I’m not really trying to make suggestions about anything.
Apart from that this stuff is happening, regardless of size of farm or whatever we need to embrace food and carbon at the same time otherwise we will be left in the shitter agai, as usual.

who's gonna be in the 'shitter'?

 

[ajd132]

who's gonna be in the 'shitter'?

All of us. If we don’t grab this by the horns then it will be demanded for free by the processors as part of the contracts and land will be bought up for stuff like tree planting for carbon because farmers are against a lucrative income stream that could add a lot of value to their businesses, especially post bps. I’m not saying it’s right or wrong, but this is the reality it seems.

 

[ajd132]

Another thing about these private carbon markets is they are putting a baseline value that cannot be argued with. If for example a miller demands low carbon wheat, we can say ‘yes, no problem, but it’s worth £80/ha on the market so that’s a £10/t premium you need to pay us’.

 

[spin cycle]

All of us. If we don’t grab this by the horns then it will be demanded for free by the processors as part of the contracts and land will be bought up for stuff like tree planting for carbon because farmers are against a lucrative income stream that could add a lot of value to their businesses, especially post bps. I’m not saying it’s right or wrong, but this is the reality it seems.

take your point but it's still a swindle ....letting corporations say they are sequestering co2 when ,in reality, they know it's likely to be released in a few years,,,,,at least with trees it's more a 'deep pocket' longer commitment

if processesors demand it tell them 'to do one'

and food comes from supermarkets .

 

[ajd132]

take your point but it's still a swindle ....letting corporations say they are sequestering co2 when ,in reality, they know it's likely to be released in a few years,,,,,at least with trees it's more a 'deep pocket' longer commitment

if processesors demand it tell them 'to do one'

and food comes from supermarkets .

I get it completely and I’m not arguing the morality of it all, that’s another debate.
I just think it’s happening and we farmers need to grab it so we don’t become the gofer yet again.