Staff at an influential corporate climate action group whose board announced a plan to allow companies to offset greenhouse gas emissions from their supply chain with carbon credits has now found such offsets are largely ineffective, a confidential preliminary draft reviewed by Reuters shows.

In this video from the National Center for Appropriate Technology, hear from experts on soil carbon markets as they discuss how the agriculture industry can be more sustainable in the future, on-farm practices and soil biology, and carbon markets and public policy.

Emerging carbon markets have the potential to supplement farm and ranch income. However, there are many unknowns, and as with any other new market, carbon credit programs can be high risk. Read more in this article from Texas Farm Bureau.

Farmers are decreasing their tillage intensity and are now considering ways to capture soil carbon for payment which may require they move to towards regenerative practices like no-till and cover crops. Tillage breaks up soil aggregates and loses carbon dioxide to the atmosphere within 5-10 minutes; while long-term no-till with cover crops starts the slow process of recovering lost carbon. Read more in this article from Ohio's Country Journal.

There has been a lot of buzz concerning the carbon credit market. While carbon is essential for all life, there is a balance between where the carbon is located and stored within the earth, oceans, and atmosphere. Read more in this article from The Hays Daily News (Hays, KS).

To boil it down, a farm business or forest owner that grows crops or owns trees that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and return it to the soil can be paid by an electricity generator, manufacturing, or consumer product business that emits carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The transaction is a method of offsetting what we know of as “greenhouse gas emissions.” Read more in this article from the Messenger-Inquirer (Owensboro, KY).

Agricultural carbon markets exist through privately and publicly owned companies with aim to reduce carbon emissions through trade of carbon units sequestered at the farm level. The sale of carbon credits presents an opportunity for farmers to receive financial benefits from changing to more environmentally beneficial agricultural practices, although carbon prices may not currently be high enough to cover the cost of switching practices. Read more in this article from Wisconsin State Farmer.

Rick Clark was out working the field on his farm near Williamsport, Ind. one day, 16 years ago. Then a one-inch rain rolled in.?He didn’t think anything of it at the time, he said. Read more in this article from the Indianapolis Star.