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2 TONNES CO2-e/ha/yr – Chan, YN (changed cropping methods - unpublished) to Garnaut Review; Grace, Peter, et al., 2004 – changed cropping in south east Australia (Grace, P.R., Antle, J., Aggarwal, P.K., Andren, O., Ogle, S.,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.