Carbon farming

Is Carbon Farming agriculture the answer to climate change?


Photo: http://www.marincarbonproject.org/carbon-farming

Although the concept of Carbon Farming has been around for a few years, it was first introduced to me in the article on Greenbiz. The article on Carbon Farming was based on a book by Eric Toensmeier (2016) in his book called "The Carbon Farming Solution: A Global Toolkit of Perennial Crops and Regeneration Agriculture Practices for Climate Change Mitigation and Food Security".

Carbon farming is farming in a way to reduce greenhouse gas and holds carbon in vegetation and soils. So why CF? From what I gathered, carbon in soil is beneficial as it makes the land more productive. Bu the rising levels of CO2 and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are a problem as they lead to climate change.

At the national scale, I was interested in knowing if the concept is adopted. A quick Google search lead to the Australian Government Department of the Environment - Carbon Farming Initiative project transition into Emissions Reduction Fund. The initiative was introduced in 2011.  The initiatives allows farmers and land managers to generate extra income by earning and selling carbon credits. This is done by storing or reducing greenhouse gas emission on the land. Without going into details, As agriculture is one of the major export sector,  I'm curious to find out how the initiative is performing in Australia.




References
https://www.greenbiz.com/article/farm-grows-climate-change-solutions
https://www.chelseagreen.com/permaculture-subject/the-carbon-farming-solution
http://www.environment.gov.au/climate-change/emissions-reduction-fund/carbon-farming-initiative-project-transition
http://www.carbonfarmersofaustralia.com.au/About/what-is-carbon-farming