Receive carbon credits for land practices that store carbon

By Gary Wyatt and Diomy Zamora, University of Minnesota Extension

Minnesota landowners have an opportunity to receive carbon credit payments for land practices that store carbon, such as no-till or strip-till farming, grasslands and woodlands.

Carbon credits are sold through the Chicago Climate Exchange; visit www.chicagoclimatex.com. The credits are purchased voluntarily by companies like DuPont, Ford and universities to help aid and abate global climate change through terrestrial carbon sequestration.

In Minnesota, no-till and strip-till carbon credit payments are based on the location of the farm. Northern Minnesota receives 0.4 metric tons per acre while southern Minnesota receives 0.6 metric tons per acre. Farm practice contracts are for 5 years.

Croplands seeded to grass after Jan. 1, 1999, are eligible to receive carbon payments. Alfalfa or mixed hay fields are also eligible to earn credits (0.4 northern Minnesota or 0.6 metric tons per acre in southern Minnesota). Government payment lands (CRP, CREP, etc.) are also eligible. The carbon offset value for grasslands in Minnesota is 1 metric ton per acre. Grasslands grown for biofuels are also eligible. Grassland contracts are for 5 years.

Trees planted after Jan. 1, 1990, are eligible to receive carbon payments. This includes agro-forestry practices such as windbreaks, shelterbelts, living snow fences and wildlife plantings. As of January 2008, sustainably managed existing woodlands and forest lands are also eligible. Government payment lands with trees are also eligible. The carbon sequestration forestry table from the Chicago Climate Exchange which shows the metric tons of CO2 sequestered per acre per year, based on the tree species located in the forest or woodland area can be found at the Extension Agroforestry website; visit www.extension.umn.edu/Agroforestry. Hybrid poplar plantings are currently not eligible. Forestry contracts are for 15 years.

A landowner who wishes to sell carbon credits must contact an aggregator such as Agragate (www.agragate.com), Farmers Union (www.nfu.org), or Delta Carbon (www.deltacarbon.org). More aggregators can be found on the web. Landowners are encouraged to contact two or more aggregators to learn more about carbon payment options for their land use practices.

More information is found at University of Minnesota Extension Agro-forestry website listed above. Click on the “How to Utilize Carbon Payments”pdf in the upper right. A helpful landowner's guide to carbon credits is available at www.cinram.umn.edu. Extension also offers classes on carbon credit payments; visit http://cfc.cfans.umn.edu/wa/.

(Gary Wyatt and Diomy Zamora are natural resources educators with University of Minnesota.)