Hardee, E. (2016). Crediting Farmers for Nutrient Stewardship: Using Carbon Markets to Create Positive Environmental Change. Solutions 7(4): 52–57. https://thesolutionsjournal.com/article/crediting-farmers-for-nutrient-stewardship-using-carbon-markets-to-create-positive-environmental-change/
Feature
Crediting Farmers for Nutrient Stewardship: Using Carbon Markets to Create Positive Environmental Change
by Elizabeth Hardee City of Geneva
A farmer in Geneva, Illinois fertilizes his crops with biosolids, a supplement provided to farmers by the local government at no cost.
I
t is impossible to discuss future food security without discussing climate change, a global problem that threatens the foundations on which our modern agricultural systems are built—stable weather patterns, well-balanced soils, a favorable temperature range. According to the IPCC, “All aspects of food security are potentially affected by climate change, including food access, utilization, and price stability.” Likely impacts include heat stress, flooding, drought, and changes in precipitation and in the distribution of invasive weeds and pests.1 Changes in precipitation and temperature resulting from climate change are also likely to alter the microbiomes contained in soils, in turn altering patterns of soil productivity. Climate change will not impact
every region uniformly, but studies provide clear evidence that further warming will increase the need for creative adaptation.2–4 Agriculture itself currently accounts for roughly 10 to 12 percent of annual global emissions.5 Most of these emissions come from gases with global warming potentials over a 20-year timeframe that are 86 and 265 times that of carbon dioxide, respectively: methane, primarily from livestock production, and nitrous oxide—the focus of this article— primarily from crop production.6 However, even as agriculture is threatened by climate change, it is capable of creative solutions that will not only contribute to global climate mitigation efforts but have benefits beyond this as well. This paper focuses on
52 | Solutions | July-August 2016 | www.thesolutionsjournal.org
In Brief Carbon crediting holds the potential to incentivize optimal nitrogen fertilizer usage on farms, avoiding negative environmental consequences like climate change while supplementing revenue to farmers. Realizing the potential of this solution will depend on key factors including the adoption of nutrient management crediting structures for compliance carbon markets, increased data collection and usage efficiencies, and economies of scale for project expenses such as credit verification. This paper explores the potential, key barriers, and solutions for nutrient management crediting at scale.