“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan "press on" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race”
Calvin Coolidge
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
ABBOTT SERIOUS ABOUT SOIL?
Dale Enerson, Director of the US National Farmers Union's Carbon Credit Program asked us about the Abbott soil carbon proposal: "Supposedly there would not be trading, but a set price by the government?" He is right. It is not trading, sos the price mechanism will not operate.
The Abbott Model for soil carbon is too sketchy to judge properly, but there are some fundamentals you cannot overlook:
1. The “Practical Action” strategy is Howard-like. When the electorate want something that you don’t believe in, do something trivial but visible to make them think something serious is being done.
2. As part of such a strategy, soil carbon might not last beyond the first term of an Abbott Government in its Government-funded form. There is no doubting the sincerity of Greg Hunt, shadow minister for Climate Change. He believes Climate Change is real.
3. A Market is the best form of incentive reward because it lasts beyond the next election, it is something farmers know and appreciate, and it offers a farmer more dignity to be paid for what they grow instead of getting Government handout money.
IS A MARKET NECESSARY AT ALL?
To achieve our goals for the planet, we need 85% of the agricultural lands involved in sustainable land management practices. The trade is not the main game. It is the attention-getter. It is the behaviour change device. But the main game is not just behaviour change for a period on a plot. It is culture change. This comes when a farmer learns how it feels to work in a carbon rich environment. And comes to understand the co-benefits – healthy soils, fertility, lower inputs, water efficiency, productivity, etc.
The Abbott Model for soil carbon is too sketchy to judge properly, but there are some fundamentals you cannot overlook:
1. The “Practical Action” strategy is Howard-like. When the electorate want something that you don’t believe in, do something trivial but visible to make them think something serious is being done.
2. As part of such a strategy, soil carbon might not last beyond the first term of an Abbott Government in its Government-funded form. There is no doubting the sincerity of Greg Hunt, shadow minister for Climate Change. He believes Climate Change is real.
3. A Market is the best form of incentive reward because it lasts beyond the next election, it is something farmers know and appreciate, and it offers a farmer more dignity to be paid for what they grow instead of getting Government handout money.
IS A MARKET NECESSARY AT ALL?
To achieve our goals for the planet, we need 85% of the agricultural lands involved in sustainable land management practices. The trade is not the main game. It is the attention-getter. It is the behaviour change device. But the main game is not just behaviour change for a period on a plot. It is culture change. This comes when a farmer learns how it feels to work in a carbon rich environment. And comes to understand the co-benefits – healthy soils, fertility, lower inputs, water efficiency, productivity, etc.
RISK MANAGEMENT - COLLECTIVE SELF-INSURANCE
Contrary to the mythunderstandings spread like superphosphate on a windy day by people who do not understand the structure and dynamics of markets, no soil carbon trading program forces the individual farmer to carry the risk of carbon lost to fire, drought, etc. The CCX and its affiliates use a "Buffer Pool" of credits. For every 5 tonnes of CO2-e a farmer submits in the CCX world, only 4 can be sold. 20% are retained in a vault, never to be sold, as a surety against catastrophic or man-made losses. To reflect the increased danger of bushfire and drought in Australia, the Prime Carbon system puts one tonne in the vault for every tonne sold. The farmer is therefore part of a large collective self-insurance system. The International Federation of Agricultural Producers calls it a "collective persistence" -our version of The Permanence Principle is as dynamic as Carbon itself.
WHAT MARKET IS THAT?
There are 4 markets available or coming available: 1. The “Cap and Trade” Compliance Market. That will commence when and if the Government is successful getting the CPRS passed by Parliament. “Compliance” because companies covered by the legislation must reduce their emissions to the level of the “Cap” or buy offsets. 2. The Regulated Voluntary Market. This market is to be used by companies and consumers wanting to voluntarily abate their emissions. It is regulated by a series of standards. Australia should have its first official voluntary market standard by July 2010. 3. The Unregulated Voluntary market. Buyer and seller come to a mutually agreeable arrangement. In the case of farm soil credits, the volumes tend to be small and the purchase deemed a form of ‘sponsorship’ by buyers, atype . 4. The Chicago Climate Exchange, Chicago, Ill. We took an order for 25,000 acres in 2006 and we are still waiting on the science.
WHAT DO GROWERS THINK?
When the Government and the Opposition made their recent announcements about soil carbon, nobody thought to ask farmers about the price they are expected to accept. Prices from $5 and $8 a tonne for CO2 stored in soil have been floated – but farmers we have consulted so far say these prices as not sufficient to cover the risk. Carbon Farmers of Australia are conducting a series of 2-day workshops which prepare the farmers to trade and at the same time canvass their views on such issues as price. They are in Tamworth on 16th-17th February, and Bungendore at Mulloon Creek on 23rd-24th the week afterwards, having already met with farmers in Dubbo, Wagga Wagga, Young and Moree. We are in Queensland after that – Biloela 9th-10th March and Ayr 15th-16th March.
The Minister for Agriculture Tony Burke told us that he was very pleased to hear that these meetings are being held and farmers are learning about the benefits of soil carbon.
Under the National Carbon Offset Standard, released last December by the Commonwealth Government, the market can open from July this year.
Carbon Farmers of Australia intends to have a program up and running in the Voluntary Market by then. Carbon Farmers is a not-for-profit ‘growers’ service association’. Services will include education, information, advice. It is a continuation of the work we have been doing as Convenors of the Carbon Coalition to win for farmers the right to trade soil carbon. We are woolgrowers from near Wellington, NSW. The 2-day “Boot Camp” is Farm Ready Approved which means that farmers may be eligible to be fully reimbursed for the cost which is $550 (incl. GST.) The workshop takes participants through the A-to-Z of Carbon, Soil Carbon, How to Grow it and sell it and hold onto it. A copy of the book Practical Carbon Farming, is given to each attendee.
Call (02) 6374 0329
The Minister for Agriculture Tony Burke told us that he was very pleased to hear that these meetings are being held and farmers are learning about the benefits of soil carbon.
Under the National Carbon Offset Standard, released last December by the Commonwealth Government, the market can open from July this year.
Carbon Farmers of Australia intends to have a program up and running in the Voluntary Market by then. Carbon Farmers is a not-for-profit ‘growers’ service association’. Services will include education, information, advice. It is a continuation of the work we have been doing as Convenors of the Carbon Coalition to win for farmers the right to trade soil carbon. We are woolgrowers from near Wellington, NSW. The 2-day “Boot Camp” is Farm Ready Approved which means that farmers may be eligible to be fully reimbursed for the cost which is $550 (incl. GST.) The workshop takes participants through the A-to-Z of Carbon, Soil Carbon, How to Grow it and sell it and hold onto it. A copy of the book Practical Carbon Farming, is given to each attendee.
Call (02) 6374 0329
The Money In Soil Carbon
Q.: Is there any money in soil carbon? YES. A Carbon Farmer can earn as little as $10 per hectare or as much as $900 per hectare, according to experts.
Here we use 3 price predictions: $5/tonne CO2-e (used by two parties preparing trading systems), $10/tonne CO2-e (the Abbott proposal) and $30/tonne CO2-e (the Government’s proposal, as reported by the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists).
And we use 3 ‘average tonnages possible’: 2tonnes, 5-to-10tonnes, and 30tonnes. The following scenarios take their tonnages from several respected sources:
2 TONNES CO2-e/ha/yr – Chan, YN (changed cropping methods - unpublished) to Garnaut Review; Grace, Peter, et al., 2004 – changed cropping in south east Australia (Grace, P.R., Antle, J., Aggarwal, P.K., Andren, O., Ogle, S., Conant, R., Longmire, J., Ashkalov, K., Baethgen, W.E., Valdivia, R. & Paustian, K. 2004, Assessment of the Costs and Enhance Global Potential of Carbon Sequestration in Soil, IEA/CON/03/95.)
5-10 TONNES CO2-e/ha/yr - Christine Jones, personal communication, to Garnaut Review; Wiley, Tim, WA Food & Agriculture personal communication, to Garnaut Review; Prime Carbon Assisted Land Management Change Program
30 TONNES CO2-e/ha/yr Christine Jones, personal communication, to Garnaut Review (ideal conditions)
NB: The following figures are gross revenue, with no allowance for costs and fees. These should not amount to more than 10% of gross.
At $5 a tonne:
• At 2 tonnes CO2-e/hectare/year, the grower could earn
the princely sum of $10/ha – or $1500 for 150 ha.
• At 10 tonnes CO2-e/hectare/year, the grower could earn
$50/ha – or $6500 for 150 ha.
• At 30 tonnes CO2-e/hectare/year, the grower could earn
$150/ha – or $22500 for 150 ha.
Per annum.
At $10 a tonne:
• At 2 tonnes CO2-e/hectare/year, the grower could earn $20/ha – or $3000 for 150 ha.
• At 10 tonnes CO2-e/hectare/year, the grower could earn $100/ha – or $15000 for 150 ha.
• At 30 tonnes CO2-e/hectare/year, the grower could earn $300/ha – or $45000 for 150 ha.
Per annum.
At $30 a tonne:
• At 2 tonnes CO2-e/hectare/year, the grower could earn $60/ha – or $9500 for 150 ha.
• At 10 tonnes CO2-e/hectare/year, the grower could earn $300ha – $45000 for 150 ha
• At 30 tonnes CO2-e/hectare/year, the grower could earn $900/ha – or $135,000 for 150 ha.
Per annum.
NB. These figures are before costs and risk management contributions to buffer pools, etc.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Farmers to “own” soil carbon trading
Farmers can only avoid the sharks in the coming soil carbon market if they take control of it for themselves, says farmers’ group Carbon Farmers of Australia. They can take advantage of the early notice of the coming market in soil carbon to join with other farmers to form trading ‘groups’ and stand their ground on price.
“When the Government and the Opposition made their announcements about soil carbon, nobody thought to ask farmers about the price they are expected to accept,” says Carbon Farmers’ Director Michael Kiely. “Prices from $5 and $8 a tonne for CO2 stored in soil have been floated – but farmers we have consulted so far say these prices as not covering the risk they are expected to take.”
“To get the uptake by farmers the country needs to tackle the CO2 problem, prices will have to start at $25-$30,” says Kiely. Carbon Farmers are conducting a series of 2-day workshops which prepare the farmers to trade in the Prime Carbon system and at the same time canvass their views on such issues as price. They are in Tamworth on 16th-17th February, and Bungendore the week afterwards, having already met with farmers in Dubbo, Wagga Wagga, Young and Moree.
“The Minister for Agriculture Tony Burke told us that he was very pleased to hear that these meetings are being held and farmers are learning about the benefits of soil carbon,” says Michael Kiely.
Under the National Carbon Offset Standard, released last December by the Commonwealth Government, the market can open from July this year. The only program ready to go is run by Prime Carbon which has submitted its system to the Government for approval. “Carbon Farmers of Australia is a not-for-profit ‘growers’ representative. We advise the grower and represent them in disputes and negotiations, if necessary,” says Kiely, who with his wife and fellow Director Louisa have campaigned for four years as Convenors of the Carbon Coalition to win for farmers the right to trade soil carbon. They are woolgrowers from near Wellington, NSW.
The 2-day “Boot Camp” is Free To Farmers (Farm Ready Approved) which means that farmers are fully reimbursed for the cost which is $555 (incl. GST.) The workshop takes participants through the A-to-Z of Carbon, Soil Carbon, How to Grow it and sell it and hold onto it. A copy of the book Practical Carbon Farming is given to each attendee.
Call (02) 6374 0329
“When the Government and the Opposition made their announcements about soil carbon, nobody thought to ask farmers about the price they are expected to accept,” says Carbon Farmers’ Director Michael Kiely. “Prices from $5 and $8 a tonne for CO2 stored in soil have been floated – but farmers we have consulted so far say these prices as not covering the risk they are expected to take.”
“To get the uptake by farmers the country needs to tackle the CO2 problem, prices will have to start at $25-$30,” says Kiely. Carbon Farmers are conducting a series of 2-day workshops which prepare the farmers to trade in the Prime Carbon system and at the same time canvass their views on such issues as price. They are in Tamworth on 16th-17th February, and Bungendore the week afterwards, having already met with farmers in Dubbo, Wagga Wagga, Young and Moree.
“The Minister for Agriculture Tony Burke told us that he was very pleased to hear that these meetings are being held and farmers are learning about the benefits of soil carbon,” says Michael Kiely.
Under the National Carbon Offset Standard, released last December by the Commonwealth Government, the market can open from July this year. The only program ready to go is run by Prime Carbon which has submitted its system to the Government for approval. “Carbon Farmers of Australia is a not-for-profit ‘growers’ representative. We advise the grower and represent them in disputes and negotiations, if necessary,” says Kiely, who with his wife and fellow Director Louisa have campaigned for four years as Convenors of the Carbon Coalition to win for farmers the right to trade soil carbon. They are woolgrowers from near Wellington, NSW.
The 2-day “Boot Camp” is Free To Farmers (Farm Ready Approved) which means that farmers are fully reimbursed for the cost which is $555 (incl. GST.) The workshop takes participants through the A-to-Z of Carbon, Soil Carbon, How to Grow it and sell it and hold onto it. A copy of the book Practical Carbon Farming is given to each attendee.
Call (02) 6374 0329
Can the globe afford modern science?
"We often say in science that eminence is measured by the length of time progress is held up by a scientist's ideas." (James Loveock, The Revenge of Gaia)
The National Carbon Offset Standard released in December was not a standard that described how we could trade soil C. It was a plea for help. How long will we have to wait for the Government to realise that science will never provide a workable trading mechanism because science cannot, has not and will not create such a thing. it is against its nature to do so. The process of science is not to simplify but to complicate. The needs of a market is simplicity and averaging. The market needs low cost solutions to weights and measures issues. Science cannot supply them and therefore says they can't and won't ever exist. Science would rather see the trade not occur than suggest less than pristine mechanism.
Will the Minister have the courage to tell Dr Brian Keating - director of CSIRO's new Sustainable Agriculture Flagship - that we are dealing with an emergency that could destroy civilisation. We don't need to be told that "the science is not advanced enough to confirm that whether this abatement could be achieved in practice." Can we do nothing until the CSIRO says we can?
There is little possibility that the CSIRO will be able to do anything more than confirm the beliefs of the scientists, such as that expressed by Dr Jeff Baldock in The Land: "A CSIRO soil carbon expert, Dr Jeffrey Baldock, said that while the technology had enormous potential in Australia, it was hard to measure and retain carbon stored in soil over a large area." The phenomenon of scientists being unable to verify what farmers on the ground are finding was demonstrated in a paper called Production-Oriented Conservative-Impact Grazing Management. It was prepared for a WA Department of Agriculture workshop in 2002, by Professor Ben Norton. He points out that the majority of published research studies of rotational grazing find that continuous grazing is better than or comparable to rotational grazing in terms of either animal or plant production. Yet “Hundreds of graziers on three continents claim that their livestock production has increased by half or doubled or even tripled following the implementation of rotational grazing…”
The Parable of the Space Pen illustrates the point: During the Space Race the AMericans spent US$25m developing a titanium biro that could write in weightless conditions (There was a Seinfeld episode featuring a Space Pen.) The Russians achieved the same result for a few cents. They equiped their cosmonauts with a pencil each.
The National Carbon Offset Standard released in December was not a standard that described how we could trade soil C. It was a plea for help. How long will we have to wait for the Government to realise that science will never provide a workable trading mechanism because science cannot, has not and will not create such a thing. it is against its nature to do so. The process of science is not to simplify but to complicate. The needs of a market is simplicity and averaging. The market needs low cost solutions to weights and measures issues. Science cannot supply them and therefore says they can't and won't ever exist. Science would rather see the trade not occur than suggest less than pristine mechanism.
Will the Minister have the courage to tell Dr Brian Keating - director of CSIRO's new Sustainable Agriculture Flagship - that we are dealing with an emergency that could destroy civilisation. We don't need to be told that "the science is not advanced enough to confirm that whether this abatement could be achieved in practice." Can we do nothing until the CSIRO says we can?
There is little possibility that the CSIRO will be able to do anything more than confirm the beliefs of the scientists, such as that expressed by Dr Jeff Baldock in The Land: "A CSIRO soil carbon expert, Dr Jeffrey Baldock, said that while the technology had enormous potential in Australia, it was hard to measure and retain carbon stored in soil over a large area." The phenomenon of scientists being unable to verify what farmers on the ground are finding was demonstrated in a paper called Production-Oriented Conservative-Impact Grazing Management. It was prepared for a WA Department of Agriculture workshop in 2002, by Professor Ben Norton. He points out that the majority of published research studies of rotational grazing find that continuous grazing is better than or comparable to rotational grazing in terms of either animal or plant production. Yet “Hundreds of graziers on three continents claim that their livestock production has increased by half or doubled or even tripled following the implementation of rotational grazing…”
The Parable of the Space Pen illustrates the point: During the Space Race the AMericans spent US$25m developing a titanium biro that could write in weightless conditions (There was a Seinfeld episode featuring a Space Pen.) The Russians achieved the same result for a few cents. They equiped their cosmonauts with a pencil each.
Don't let's wait another 10 years
Imagine what Australia would be like if all the farms and land holdings had been managed as carbon farms for the past 10 years. Carbon rich soil, good ground cover, well-established vegetation, moisture retained in the landscape for far longer, less erosion, heathier soil microbes hard at work manufacturing more carbon and making more nutrients available for plants to grow. The cooling influence of vegetation sees microclimates joining microclimates and expanding to include districts and regions, forging feedback loops that cascade through mineral and energy cycles, unleashing processes long hidden that have unanticipated impact on production and productivity. And all the while this same vegetation and soil are extracting vast amounts of 'the airborne fraction' - the Legacy Load, the CO2 and other greenhouse gases that are the real cause of the climate chaos battering our planet. Imagine your own version of that. Then think what the place will be like if we have to wait another 10 years for carbon farming to become widespread. If the doubters and delayers get their way. If its 'too hard' to try. If the cynics and the deniers win. Then we lose hope. And all we have left is despair.
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