US farmers paid for carbon in soil!

Farmers in Montana may soon be paid for sequester-ing carbon in agricultural soils, reports the Great Falls Tribune.
A National Carbon Offset Coalition pilot project is linking industries that produce greenhouse gas with landowners who store carbon in the ground through conservation practices to enable them to earn credits.
Montana University researchers are measuring carbon stored in soil and how land use affects storage. The study involved 20-acre plots. “Some are planted with rotations of grain crops, such as wheat, and then pulse crops, such as peas. Others are planted with grain, then plowed and left idle the next season. No-till farming is practiced on others,” says the report.
“The market for carbon offsets is voluntary in the United States. A metric ton, the amount saved in about 10 acres of no-till cropland, trades for $1.50 to $3.”
But carbon credits are traded in established markets where greenhouse emissions have been capped, like Europe where just over a month ago carbon was trading for $30 per metric ton.
President Bush has refused to set caps for greenhouse gases, but the industry is waiting for the next Administration when Congress is expected to do so.
“The carbon sequestered during the pilot will be traded with the National Carbon Offset Coalition acting as the broker. A power plant in California has the option to buy the first 25,000 metric tons of carbon credits that the coalition secures,” says the Great Falls Tribune.