12 'wrong facts' about soil carbon

There are at least 10 wrong 'facts' about soil carbon put about by people for various reasons: 1. Only small amounts of carbon can be sequestered in soil, and then it takes a long period. (There is no peer-reviewed science that confirms this assertion.) 2. Kyoto rules will prevent soil carbon being traded at any worthwhile prices. (After next year the Kyoto rules run out. There is no rush to renew them.) 3. Australian soil carbon offsets will be forced to trade on the domestic voluntary market which will only offer low prices. (In at least one case recently the voluntary units sold for close to 10 times as much as the compliance market units, proving that nothing is inevitable about price.) 4. Degraded soils are best rehabilitated by tree plantings. (No soil is so degraded that it cannot be restored by carbon farming techniques. The emptier the glass, the more we can fill it.) 5. Soil carbon is so unstable that it disappears soon after it is captured. (Humus colloids can last 1000 years.) 6. A farmer has to choose between producing food and fibre or growing soil carbon levels. (Soil carbon is grown fastest and longest in actively managed soils.) 7. Soil carbon levels are dictated by rainfall, so it is beyond the control of the farmer. (Several experienced carbon farmers recorded between 2% and 3% increases in soil carbon during the recent decade long drought.) 8. When a farmer sells soil carbon offsets, they must farm for the new owner. (Offsets are not property rights. They represent the performance of a service. There is no new owner.) 9. A farmer has to hold the carbon captured in soils for 100 years because science tells us it takes that long for CO2 to disappear from the atmosphere. (Scientists do not say this because it is not true. Various time scales have been suggested, but 100 years was decided by delegates to Kyoto talks. Politicians. Besides there are several ways to achieve Permanence other that signing a 100-year contract.) 10. Peer-reviewed science is a reliable guide to the potential of Australian soils to sequester carbon. (There is no peer-reviewed science that measures the real world performance of a skilled carbon farmer applying several carbon farming practices in combination that can be relied upon.) 11. A farmer growing soil carbon levels locks up nutrients in humus that cost far more to replace than the returns on offsets sales. (God did not have to order fertiliser from Incitec Pivot when He was making the soil rich in the beginning. Soil biology can make available millions of tonnes of nutrient locked up in soils.) 12. Farmers shouldn't need to be paid to increase carbon in their soils because it is a good thing to do. (Then why haven't they done it already? Only a non-farmer could make a statement like that. Everyone else can earn money from offsets - alternative energy, forestry, light bulbs - but not the farmer. She's got to do it because it is good for her. "The good farmers are already doing it," says a politician. "Therefore the rest should follow." That's implied. "Pay them a pittance... or nothing at all. No need. Crisis? What Crisis?"There are at least 10 wrong 'facts' about soil carbon put about by people for various reasons: 1. Only small amounts of carbon can be sequestered in soil, and then it takes a long period. (There is no peer-reviewed science that confirms this assertion.) 2. Kyoto rules will prevent soil carbon being traded at any worthwhile prices. (After next year the Kyoto rules run out. There is no rush to renew them.) 3. Australian soil carbon offsets will be forced to trade on the domestic voluntary market which will only offer low prices. (In at least one case recently the voluntary units sold for close to 10 times as much as the compliance market units, proving that nothing is inevitable about price.) 4. Degraded soils are best rehabilitated by tree plantings. (No soil is so degraded that it cannot be restored by carbon farming techniques. The emptier the glass, the more we can fill it.) 5. Soil carbon is so unstable that it disappears soon after it is captured. (Humus colloids can last 1000 years.) 6. A farmer has to choose between producing food and fibre or growing soil carbon levels. (Soil carbon is grown fastest and longest in actively managed soils.) 7. Soil carbon levels are dictated by rainfall, so it is beyond the control of the farmer. (Several experienced carbon farmers recorded between 2% and 3% increases in soil carbon during the recent decade long drought.) 8. When a farmer sells soil carbon offsets, they must farm for the new owner. (Offsets are not property rights. They represent the performance of a service. There is no new owner.) 9. A farmer has to hold the carbon captured in soils for 100 years because science tells us it takes that long for CO2 to disappear from the atmosphere. (Scientists do not say this because it is not true. Various time scales have been suggested, but 100 years was decided by delegates to Kyoto talks. Politicians. Besides there are several ways to achieve Permanence other that signing a 100-year contract.) 10. Peer-reviewed science is a reliable guide to the potential of Australian soils to sequester carbon. (There is no peer-reviewed science that measures the real world performance of a skilled carbon farmer applying several carbon farming practices in combination that can be relied upon.) 11. A farmer growing soil carbon levels locks up nutrients in humus that cost far more to replace than the returns on offsets sales. (God did not have to order fertiliser from Incitec Pivot when He was making the soil rich in the beginning. Soil biology can make available millions of tonnes of nutrient locked up in soils.) 12. Farmers shouldn't need to be paid to increase carbon in their soils because it is a good thing to do. (Then why haven't they done it already? Only a non-farmer could make a statement like that. Everyone else can earn money from offsets - alternative energy, forestry, light bulbs - but not the farmer. She's got to do it because it is good for her. "The good farmers are already doing it," says a politician. "Therefore the rest should follow." That's implied. "Pay them a pittance... or nothing at all." STAND UP FOR SOIL CARBON: Register now for the Carbon Farming Conference -- 28/29 September, 2011