By Agricultural practices that capture and store carbon in soils are increasingly being seen as a cost-effective and beneficial way to contribute to climate change mitigation. As a result, more and more farmers are adopting these strategies, with some earning thousands of dollars by selling their carbon offsets.
The market for carbon credit exchange is growing as more companies and countries set goals to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. There are two kinds of markets: compliance markets that impose caps on emissions and voluntary markets that link buyers and sellers of carbon credits.
To participate in a carbon market, farmers must shift their farming practices to ones that meet specific beneficial ecosystem criteria. These include no-till, reduced-till, cover crops, crop rotation, and buffer strips that sequester carbon in the soil. Once farmers implement these changes on their land, they can collect data on how much carbon is being removed and the amount of GHGs it reduces. This information is then used to calculate the carbon credits that can be sold in a market.
Some carbon credit programs help farmers get started with the process, while others provide the services needed for the program to run smoothly. They also ensure that the credits are issued at a high quality. For example, the Nori Carbon Removal Marketplace uses a computer model to predict how much carbon a farm can draw down from its soil. This data is then verified and approved by a third party. When a farmer draws down one ton of carbon, he or she creates a Nori Carbon Removal Tonne (NRT), which enters a queue on the NORI blockchain and can be purchased.
Many other carbon markets operate the same way. They link farmers to companies that buy credits and pay them for the carbon they’ve sequestered. A new program in Illinois is offering an opportunity for farmers to voluntarily participate in the emerging carbon market. It’s called the Illinois Conservation and Climate Initiative, and it’s being implemented in partnership with the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX(r)), the Delta Institute, and an Advisory Committee representing Illinois agriculture and conservation groups.
To qualify for the program, farmers need to have signed up with a company that helps them develop and manage carbon projects on their farms. They must be committed to a long-term carbon plan that includes benchmarking and ongoing sampling and measurement of their carbon stocks.
Then, they must submit their findings to a verification body, like a carbon registry. After that, they can sell their credits to corporate buyers who need to offset their carbon emissions. Another option is to become a carbon credit aggregator, which is a company that collects all the carbon credits from multiple farmers and puts them together in a package for sale to an end purchaser. These companies usually have the financial resources to purchase and then store the credits.
In addition to the ICCI, other programs have been launched across the country that are seeking to incentivize farmers to develop carbon farming practices on their properties. These include programs that pay farmers for the amount of carbon sequestered and those that pay them based on the type of carbon sequestered.