SOIL CARBON AND CLIMATE CHANGE NEWS

 

From Kansas State University's:

Consortium for Agricultural Soils Mitigation of Greenhouse Gases

(CASMGS)

http://soilcarboncenter.k-state.edu

 

Charles W. Rice, K-State Department of Agronomy, National CASMGS Director

(785) 532-7217 cwrice@ksu.edu

Scott Staggenborg, K-State Department of Agronomy (785) 532-7214 sstaggen@ksu.edu

Steve Watson, CASMGS Communications (785) 532-7105 swatson@oznet.ksu.edu

 

December 2, 2004

No. 40

 

Kansas:

* Meetings To Be Held On Carbon Credits For No-till, New Grasslands In Kansas

* Kansas Coalition For Carbon Management Meeting Dec. 14

 

National:

* CASMGS Forum December 15-16 At Purdue University

* Regional Clean Energy Partnership Established In The U.S.

 

International:

* Arctic Climate Report Released

 

 

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Meetings To Be Held On Carbon Credits

For No-till, New Grasslands In Kansas

 

Producers and landowners in Kansas may soon get to enter into the marketplace for carbon credits. A series of local educational meetings is being planned for January and February across most of Kansas to discuss a voluntary pilot program for carbon credits on land either under no-till or that has recently been planted to grass.

 

The meetings are sponsored by the Kansas Coalition for Carbon Management, an organization consisting of Kansas Resource Conservation and Development Councils (RC&Ds), K-State Research and Extension, several Kansas commodity organizations, Kansas Farm Bureau, and many state and federal agricultural agencies. Speakers at the meetings will be representatives of K-State Research and Extension and RC&Ds.

 

The pilot program is being offered by the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX), a voluntary, multi-sector market for reducing and trading greenhouse gas emissions. The program is being administered by the Iowa Farm Bureau, serving as the “aggregator” -- an entity that acts as a middleman between the CCX and producers/landowners. An aggregator pools many separate parcels of qualified acreage into one large block for purposes of carbon credit trading on the CCX. An aggregator working with the CCX must meet some rather sizable minimums in terms of net worth and assets, and the Iowa Farm Bureau is one of the few agricultural entities in the Midwest that meets those requirements.

 

At the educational meetings, K-State Research and Extension personnel will explain the basic concepts of carbon sequestration. “We’ll explain what carbon sequestration is, why it’s important, and how it can help reduce greenhouse gases in the atmosphere while improving soil and water quality. We’ll also explain what practices producers can use to increase carbon sequestration in their soils,” said Chuck Rice, K-State professor of agronomy and national director of the Consortium for Agricultural Soils Mitigation of Greenhouse Gases (CASMGS).

 

RC&D personnel will then explain the pilot program being offered by CCX and administered by the Iowa Farm Bureau. In this program, producers or landowners can make an application to contract with the Iowa Farm Bureau to sell carbon credits for them on the CCX exchange. The acreage eligible for this program includes no-till in the eastern half of Kansas only and new grass plantings (mostly CRP or conservation buffer strip plantings) in all but far southcentral Kansas.

 

There are some requirements made of those who sign these contracts, which will be explained at the meetings. Payments for carbon credits are not established in the contract, said David Miller, with the Iowa Farm Bureau. The payment will depend on the price on the CCX board at the time the credits are sold by Miller. Payments have been averaging anywhere from $0.50 to $1.00 per acre per year, but this fluctuates. A maximum of about 150,000 acres can still be contracted in this pilot project between now and April, 2005. More than 80,000 acres are already under contract in Iowa.

 

Dates and locations for the carbon credit pilot project meetings in Kansas are not yet set. We’ll give you those details in this newsletter as soon as they become available.

 

-- Steve Watson swatson@oznet.ksu.edu

 

 

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Kansas Coalition for Carbon Management

Meeting Dec. 14

 

The Kansas Coalition for Carbon Management (KCCM) will meet on Tuesday, December 14, 2004, 9:30 A.M. - 2:30 P.M., in Room 2002, Throckmorton Hall, Kansas State University.

 

David Miller, Iowa Farm Bureau, will be attending the meeting. This will be a planning session for the carbon credit educational programs for Kansas cropland and grassland producers.

 

The KCCM is looking for partners to promote these carbon credit informational programs to be held in January and February.

 

If you have any questions about this meeting, please phone Gary Satter

at 785-945-6292.

 

 

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CASMGS Forum Dec. 15-16

at Purdue University

 

A CASMGS Forum titled “Carbon Sequestration: Opportunities in the Eastern Cornbelt” will be held December 15-16 in Indianapolis, Indiana. For general information, the Forum website is http://www.agry.purdue.edu/soils/CASMGSforum.htm

 

-- Andrea Bongen, CASMGS, Agronomy Dept., Purdue University (765) 496-1527

  asbongen@purdue.edu

 

 

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Regional Clean Energy Partnership

established in the U.S.

 

Several businesses in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia have formally launched the Clean Energy Partnership (CEP), a regional coalition working to promote solutions to global warming and air pollution.

 

The CEP set a goal of offsetting at least 10,000 megawatt-hours of electricity through clean energy purchases and another 2,500 megawatt-hours through energy efficiency by July 2006.

 

For more information, see:

http://www.cleanenergypartnership.org

 

 

-- PointCarbon, Nov. 23, 2004 

 

 

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ARCTIC CLIMATE REPORT RELEASED

 

The Arctic Climate Impact Assessment has been released. A summary of the report is available at:

http://www.acia.uaf.edu

 

In the report, eight nations with Arctic territory agreed to fight glacial melting and other effects of climate change in the region, though they declined to endorse any specific steps to counter global warming.

 

The Arctic Council includes the United States, Russia, Canada, and several Nordic countries. The group's statement did not call for mandatory curbs on greenhouse gas emissions linked to warming but noted that the Arctic is facing unprecedented temperature increases and glacial melting.

 

-- Steve Watson <swatson@oznet.ksu.edu>

 

 

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UPCOMING CONFERENCES

 

December 7-10, 2004

The 2004 CO2 Conference and EOR Carbon Management Workshop

Midland, Texas 

For more information, see:

http://www.spe-pb.org/co2_conference/index.asp

 

 

Dec. 15-16, 2004

CASMGS Forum

Carbon Sequestration: Opportunities in the Eastern Cornbelt

Indianapolis, IN

For more information, see:

http://www.agry.purdue.edu/soils/CASMGSforum.htm

 

 

January 13-14, 2005

Climate Change Risks & Opportunities: Learning from the Leaders

New York, NY

For details, see: http://www.ceepinc.org

 

 

January 16-20, 2005

Chapman Conference on the Science and Technology of Carbon Sequestration

San Diego, California

For more information see:

http://www.agu.org/meetings/cc05acall.html

 

 

March 1-3, 2005

Carbon Market Insights 2005

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

For more information, see: http://www.pointcarbon.com/article.php?articleID=3838&categoryID=141

 

 

March 21-24, 2005

USDA Greenhouse Gas Symposium

Baltimore, MD

For more information, contact Chuck Rice cwrice@ksu.edu

See:

http://soilcarboncenter.k-state.edu/conference

 

 

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<swatson@oznet.ksu.edu>

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