b'tioning that Nori relies on Soilthats a big difference that Metrics, which is a greenhouseproducers have to keep inDID YOU KNOW?gas inventory tool that meetsmind, he says. He mentioned USDA Bluebook standards. that the most growers can getCarbon credits are becoming an increasingly popular Nori also works with third- per acre is 60%, based on thediscussion in Washington D.C. The EPA estimates that party verifiers to verify thatvaried soil sequestering rates.10% of carbon dioxide is emitted by the agricultural the regenerative practicesThat means if youre in thesector. that drive the incrementalMidwest and they are payingWhile, overall, this is a relatively small portion of overall carbon drawdown took place.you $20 a ton, youre only get- carbon emissions by the sector, agriculture has been This part of the process is paidting $12 per acre. receiving a lot of attention in reducing the overall carbon for by the farmer. For producers in the deepemissions recently. Some qualifying practicessouth of Texas, that could be include increasing the diver- only $4 per acre. That means, its time to look at how to adapt and change. sity of cropping rotations,In my view, thats notThe Food and Agriculture Climate Alliance (FACA), adding cover crops, reducingenough to make farmers signsuggests:tillage and more.a 10 to 20 year contract with a lot of paperwork and restric- Providing voluntary, incentive-based tools forThe Math Matters tions on what they can plantfarmers, ranchers and forest owners to maximize the While switching to no-till pro- and which production practicesequestration of carbon and the reduction of other duction is an effective way toto use, he says. emissions, as well as increase the resilience of the sequester carbon, its not a 1:1land.exchange.Challenges to OvercomeSupporting the development and oversight of private For example, RiberaWith all these variables, itssector markets for carbon credits.explains that when growersunderstandable that carbonadopt reduced till, or no-tillcredits are hotly debated.Promoting public and private sector tools to practices, the amount ofMany have been left won- incentivize farmers, ranchers and forest owners to carbon that can be seques- dering if they are worth theprioritize and scale climate-smart practices.tered varies from 0.2 to 0.6trouble at all.metric tons of carbon, perOne major barrier is thatOffering incentives for farmers to reduce energy acre, per year, depending onproducers often struggle toconsumption, increase the use of on-farm renewable location, irrigation, and otherprovide the necessary data toenergy and make continued progress toward reducing factors.convert their on-farm prac- the lifecycle GHG emissions of agriculture- and So, keep in mind thattices to qualified credits. forestry-based renewable energy.whenever they say they willFarmers are in the busi- Streamlining consumer-facing packaging andpay a certain amount per tonness to farm, not to manageimplementing a public-private-partnership to reduce of carbon, that doesnt meandata, Carlson says. Onlythe GHG impact of food waste and loss within the food that it is one acre to one ton.up until a few years ago wasvalue chain.The most that you can get isthere any value coming from 60% of one ton per acre if youfarm records, so the organi- Increasing federal investment in agriculture,convert, Ribera says. zation of these records getsforestry, and food-related research substantially and Ribera says though somelooser as we go back in time.continuously.reports say companies areNot to mention that dif-buying credits for $100 perferent types of records are ton, the average payment isstored in different places, ON THE WEBaround $20 per ton.which can make consolidationWHERE Theres an $80 differencedifficult and frustrating.there, and while some of thatBut, things are improving. If you want to hear more about the wild, wild west of carbon credits, check out our Strategy Webinar at may have to do with paper- Maintaining records asseedworld.com/carbon-credits-are-they-really-worth-it-a-seed-world-strategy-webinar.work and accurate records,we move forward is less of a OCTOBER 2021SEEDWORLD.COM /35'