Mining Carbon Down on the Farm

By Dan MorganWheatland, Wyo. – This region of the country was built fromselling coal, gold, lead and other minerals buried in the ground. Now some farmers and ranchers are betting there is treasure in yetanother element below the surface: carbon.At this point, it is still a long-shot gamble.In the last two years more than 9,000 cattlemen and cropgrowers nationwide--including hundreds in this part of the westernGreat Plains—signed contracts to farm in ways that supposedlywill capture and store nearly 5 million tons of carbon a year.Industries that spew the climate-threatening greenhouse gas intothe atmosphere were offering as much as $7 a ton for these“offsets” last year, to counteract the impact of their emissions.But since then, in a boom and bust move that might shock even an 1890s gold speculator, prices have plummeted to as low as10 cents a ton.The sudden collapse, which officials at the Chicago ClimateExchange blame on the economic downturn and uncertainty over the future of climate legislation, has left many farmers withcommitments to sell carbon and few buyers. It has also raised

questions about the economic soundness of the mandatory systemof carbon trading at the heart of climate change legislation beforeCongress.Even so, there are strong indications that carbon is here tostay as a factor in the business calculations of farmers and ranchersacross the American farm belt. The reason is that relatively newand sophisticated agricultural practices that offer a better economicreturn may also store more carbon in the soil.

Banking Carbon?

Against conventional wisdom, for example, soil scientistshave found that intensive grazing can improve the health of nativegrasses in the West, and increase carbon by as much as a quarter of a ton a year per acre.“You don’t have to be sold on global warming to do this,” saidLarry D. Cundall, 60, a Wheatland, Wyo., cattleman who qualifiedlast year to sell about 2000 tons of carbon a year from the ranchwhere he raises Angus and Black Baldy beef.

Larry Cundall…..and friends enjoying meal in one of his carbon friendly pastures

…Another technique, known as “continuous no till,” avoids plowing and leaves crop residues in the fields. The method preserves moisture and nutrients and keeps oxygen in the air fromcombining with soil carbon so it can escape as carbon dioxide.

Farmers who follow the practice can qualify for nearly half a tonan acre of carbon savings.“There are a lot of co-benefits that come with managing for carbon,” said Justin Derner, a USDA rangeland scientist at theHigh Plains Grassland Research Station in Cheyenne, Wyo. Theseinclude saving water, upgrading pastures, preventing erosion andstrengthening resistance to drought.There could also be long-term benefits for taxpayers.Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has told Congress that incomefrom carbon-- along with new revenue from farm-based wind power and local ethanol plants using new forms of biomass— eventually could replace cash subsidies for farmers.

“Old West,” New Ideas

This sparsely populated area of rolling grasslands crisscrossed by barbed wire fences and spotted with beef animals still looks likethe Old West but is actually a testing ground for new ideas abouthow to make rangeland more sustainable—and profitable.“What carbon sequestration does is show that ranchers aregood stewards of the land,” said Grant Stumbough, the USDAresource conservation and development official who hasspearheaded the effort in southeast Wyoming.Many ranchers still let their cattle roam widely over largeexpanses of unfenced range. It was long thought that this avoidsovergrazing and unnecessary disturbance of the fragile covering.But that view has been challenged by research showing that intenseshort-term grazing on smaller fenced pastures results in a more productive grassland.Even pasture with short grass can store deceptively largeamounts of carbon because 95 percent of the carbon is in soil androot systems, Derner said.