I am also interested in the idea of Carbon credits and where this may go
policy wise. There is a lot of talk now abour crop insurance reform
that would offer farmers more options for coverage. I've been wondering
where the two ideas of carbon crediting and crop/revenue insurance
options for alternative crops and livestocks fit - I believe they could
be very complimentary. Any thoughts?
Kim Leval Staritzky
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Raymond R. Weil [SMTP:rw17@umail.umd.edu]
> Sent: Monday, April 06, 1998 1:59 PM
> To: Bill Liebhardt
> Cc: sanet-mg@shasta.ces.ncsu.edu
> Subject: Re: carbon credits
>
> Bill,
>
> I couldn't agree more. I have been warning farmers and farm
> consultants groups
> for several years now -- and more so since Kyoto -- to get ready to
> play this
> carbon balance role. My experience has been that even the hard-bitten
> ag-chemical salespeople can see the logic and importance of soil
> organic matter
> once it has been pointed out to them. The nice thing is that
> increasing SOM is
> something we would generally want do anyway. With nations and
> corporations soon
> to be able to buy and sell C emission "rights" , just ask yourself
> which is the
> more politically palatable course of action: pass legislation demands
> that
> citizens drive fewer miles in smaller cars, or legislation that
> rewards farmers
> for switching to pastures and cover crops and less tillage, etc.?
>
> Ray Weil
>
>
>
> Bill Liebhardt wrote:
>
> > I find the idea of carbon credits to be a very interesting issue and
> I think
> > it could be very useful in a number of ways. If we create policy to
> > increase the carbon in the soil there could be an increase in
> practices that
> > have the potential to move the agenda forward with respect to
> sustainable
> > agriculture. No till is certainly one example. Sound crop
> rotations would
> > also fit in that scenario and in general anything that results in
> better
> > soil organic matter management would be plus.
> >
> > Another example would be pasture based systems particularly for
> ruminants
> > like dairy and beef cattle. In a chapter in the book, THE DAIRY
> DEBATE, Ed
> > Rayburn of West Virginia University has a section that deals with
> that
> > question and I quote. "Another benefit that pastures provide is
> that
> > pastured soils accumulate organic matter and are a sink for carbon
> dioxide
> > that would otherwise enter the atmosphere. In New York, pasture
> soil
> > samples average 7.2 percent organic matter. Many of our cropped
> soils will
> > average only half this, or 3.6 percent organic matter. This 3.6
> percent
> > difference is the equivalent of 20,000 pounds of organic matter or
> 11,765
> > pounds of carbon contained in one acre of soil. From this we can
> calculate
> > the amount of carbon dioxide that could be tied up in pasture soils.
> Given
> > an organic matter carbon ratio of 1.7:1 and carbon dioxide
> containing 27.3
> > percent carbon, 43,095 pounds of carbon dioxide could be tied up per
> acre of
> > land converted to pasture."
> >
> > Think of all the dairy animals that are in confinement and that
> could be on
> > pasture and the amount of land in grain production that could be
> converted
> > to pasture. Think of all the feed lot beef that could be fed on
> pasture if
> > our culture could learn to eat that, or to put more of the weight on
> with
> > pasture It would also have a remarkable effect on our manure
> management and
> > it could help revitalize rural communities and the life style of the
> people
> > in dairy and beef production. It would reduce soil erosion, improve
> water
> > and air quality and reduce the use of fuel, fertilizers and
> pesticides. I
> > know this is dangerous and subversive stuff because it would reverse
> the
> > power flow away from the corporations that now control things in
> our sector
> > and would bring more of it back to farmers. It would tend to
> decentralize
> > decision making to people who manage farms instead of concentrating
> it in
> > corporate headquarters.
> >
> > I am sure we do not want to do that so maybe the whole idea is
> stupid.
> >
> > Bill
> >
> > ***********************************************************
> > * *
> > * Bill Liebhardt, Director SAREP *
> > * 1 Shields Avenue *
> > * University of California, Davis CA 95616 *
> > * Phone: 530-752-2379 *
> > * FAX: 530-754-8550 *
> > * email: wcliebhardt@ucdavis.edu *
> > * WWW: www.sarep.ucdavis.edu *
> > * *
> > ***********************************************************
> >
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