My friend and king of organic Orland agriculture Charlie Johnson says that, instead of paying Dan Lederman’s Republican friends from Iowa to bust up farmers’ land for a carbon dioxide pipeline, maybe we could compensate farmers like him for using sustainable farming practices to sequester carbon emissions:
Charlie Johnson has an organic farm just south of Madison along the route of a proposed pipeline. He said soil health practices are more effective and sustainable solutions for carbon sequestration, because plants remove carbon dioxide out of the air that ends up in the soil, without the need for carbon-capture technology or a pipeline. When farmers engage in soil health practices, they can also reduce chemical usage, limit soil degradation and erosion, and protect wildlife habitat.
“The farming practices where we have more grass, more rotation, more diversity, they can unite us as producers and have us work toward a common goal to improve our soils, and use our soil and plants as a true carbon sink,” Johnson said. “Right now, we have farmers protesting against farmers, farmers protesting against ethanol, and farmers protesting against out-of-state interests that want to line their own pockets” [Joshua Haiar, “Farmers Say They Can Store Carbon Without Pipelines,” South Dakota Searchlight, 2023.06.23].
Using the pending Farm Bill to make farmers eligible for the same largesse that CO2 pipeliners are getting could make local farmers like the Jorgensens out by Ideal and their soil rich:
David Clay, a distinguished professor of agriculture at South Dakota State University, said a study that took millions of soil samples in multiple states from 2000 to 2020 found the average acre of cropland in South Dakota sequestered 0.22 tons of carbon per year.
Nick Jorgensen took soil samples and deduced that with his family’s soil-friendly farming practices, they’re sequestering a total of about 15,730 more tons per year on their farmland, at 1.5 tons of carbon per acre. That’s after he subtracted an estimated 108 tons emitted by tractors and other aspects of the family’s farming operations, and 30.4 tons emitted by the natural digestion of grazing livestock.
…if the federal government gave farmers and ranchers $85 per ton (what the federal government is offering for carbon sequestration via pipelines) of carbon sequestered based on the change in organic matter, Jorgensen’s farm ground would earn about $1.34 million each year [Joshua Haiar, “Farming Carbon: Farm Bill Presents Opportunity to Unite Farmers, Climate Activists,” South Dakota Searchlight, 2023.06.23].
$1.34 million, just for securing carbon with good farming practices, and before they even get any corn or beef to market. And instead of that cash going into Terry Branstad‘s stock portfolio, it would go to local farmers who would plow that money right back into the grocery stores, bars, and implement dealerships in Lake and Tripp counties.
The Searchlight is so much better than the Dakota Scout it’s not even close.
Is there a decent Republican blog in South Dakota?
The solution proposed by Cory and Mr. Jorgenson should be adopted and supported by our Congressional delegation and our Governor.
I won’t stop listening to any possible option to mitigate CO2 loads in the atmosphere, including novel Carbon Capture Storage & Use technologies that work our way to a net reduction for CO2 for the entire CCS/U project life cycle. But I lean more towards leveraging known and established Ag and Land-Use practices.
They’re both a strategy for joint mitigation [getting the CO2 from burning dinosaur salad out of the air] AND adaptation [steering into the skid of advancing climate change]. Benefits include reducing stormflow and runoff, which helps reduce downstream water quality. It’s a win-win and can’t be used by cynical denialists and delayers to “suddenly” discover the harm of private companies claiming eminent domain for something that’s no less (or more) of a utility than oil production pipelines.
Do it. How randy of an idea.
Giant Bamboo will remove CO2 from the air even faster than Kudzu
Farming does not work for Joe Manchin.
Climate grifters come in both R & D flavors. Why make this just about mid-western Rs? Politically connected climate profiteers play both sides of the aisle especially at the federal level. Farmer Johnson has a terrific idea but without being politically connected his plan is going nowhere. Only big money interests set the agenda.
I quit drinking carbonated beverages. Please send me free money.
The pipeline scammers are sharing their bounty with the politicians. If the farmers are willing to do the same, no doubt they will also
be able to dig some more out of taxpayer pockets.
As an added note, no till farming has been around for years, so why should the taxpayer pony up for good soil conservation, or
a carbon dioxide pipeline, other than more fraud being perpetuated by magnates.
Plant 10 MM trees.