b"A GREENERFUTURE FOR AGWhat is the carbon economy and is itreally viable for ag? Ashley RobinsonEditors note: This interview has beenthe most effective mechanism for all edited for length and clarity. sectors. And that's sort of the argument I was making during a recent presentation JOY AGNEW ISthe vice presidentI gave it Ag Smart, was that those mecha-of applied research at Olds Collegenisms might work for certain sectors, located in Alberta, Canada. She has beenlike the energy or the mining sector, but at the school for the past two and halfI don't know if they are the right solution years and in that time she has worked tofor ag, and I unfortunately, don't have a help build the Smart Farm into a hub forgood solution. knowledge transfer and information forBut I'm very adamant about the fact Alberta farmers. Before Olds College shethat carbon credits and carbon offsets, the worked at the Prairie Machinery Instituteway they're currently designed, in terms of and the University of Saskatchewanthe quantification and verification proto-where she received her bachelor ofcols that are required to establish them, science and PhD degrees. Her workare going to be extremely, extremely chal-currently focuses on agriculture technol- lenging for ag. So there needs to be some ogy and agriculture technology integra- some thought put into that. tion. Seed Worlds sister publication, the Alberta Seed Guide, sat down withASG: Why do carbon offsets not work? Agnew to hear her opinions on carbonJA: Honestly, ag has a huge role to play in credits, and why they might not be ain reducing the overall carbon footprint, good solution for agriculture. our total carbon emissions, because of the potential for carbon sequestration Alberta Seed Guide (ASG): What isin the soil, or taking carbon out of the the carbon economy? atmosphere and locking it back into the Joy Agnew (JA): Good question. I don'tsoil. There's huge potential there. So there know if I have a definition for that. Butneeds to be a way to understand that and it's a movement towards, or I guess themeasure that, quantify it and incentivize understanding that adopting practicespractices that help boost that soil carbon or changing our practices or adoptingsequestration potential. technologies is important to reduce theBut the current protocols, like to overall carbon footprint of our lives. Itactually qualify for a carbon credit, the requires some sort of incentivization. Andpractice has to be incremental, or it has so the establishment of carbon taxes andto be over and above what's currently carbon offsets or carbon credits, I think isbeing adopted, it has to be permanent. sort of that core definition of the carbonAnd then the amount of carbon, either economy.reduced or sequestered has to be verified. Now, the question is whether thoseAnd the current process for that verifica- Joy Agnew, vice president of applied taxes and offsets and credits are reallytion piece requires extremely scientificallyresearch at Olds College in Alberta.50/ SEEDWORLD.COMDECEMBER 2021"