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Nebraska Farmers Union |
1305
Plum Street • Lincoln, NE 68502 Contact
John Hansen Office: 402-476-8815, Fax: 402-476-8859, Cell: 402-580-8815 |
For Immediate
Release:
July 29, 2008
Contact: John K. Hansen at 402-476-8815 or
john@nebraskafarmersunion.org
NFU Carbon
Credit Program Generates $484,485.66 For Nebraska’s Farmers
July 29, 2008 – Nebraska Farmers Union President John K. Hansen
announced that 221 Nebraska farmers will receive checks this week totaling
$484,485.66 in income for 2006 and 2007 practices from no-till and newly seeded
grassland offsets that capture and store carbon in their soil through the
National Farmers Union Carbon Credit Program.
Nebraska checks averaged $2,192.24.
Check amounts varied reflecting the amount of acres enrolled, rates,
zones, and practices. Some farms
enrolled their entire farm, and some enrolled only part of their acres,
depending on their situation. “This
private sector based program works for farms of all sizes,” Hansen said.
While
enrollment is ongoing, the next pool deadline for no-till and seeded grass
offsets is August 15.
Hansen
said, “Eligible farmers are encouraged to enroll before the August 15th
deadline so they can benefit from the ‘reach back’ provision and receive carbon
credit payments for both the 2007 and 2008 crop years. If farmers or ranchers need help enrolling,
call our office at 402-476-8815.”
The
Rangeland Management pool that utilizes prescribed rotational grazing offsets
deadline is August 1.
Nationwide,
this pool of enrollments sequestered carbon from 2.8 million acres using
no-till cropping practices and by converting cropland to long term grass
stands, as in Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) acres planted after January 1,
1999. After third-party verification of the enrolled acres, the tons were
registered and sold on the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) since the first of
the year. That amount of stored carbon offsets the estimated annual emissions
of 320,000 automobiles. The NFU program
has earned U.S. ag producers $8 million since the voluntary program began in
late 2006.
Farmers
Union was approved as an aggregator for the CCX to pool and market carbon
offsets in 2006 and has since become one of the largest providers of
agricultural soil carbon offsets to the CCX. The CCX is the world’s first
greenhouse gas emissions registry, reduction and trading system, trading more
than 86 million tons of carbon offsets to date. Nebraska is currently the fourth largest state in the NFU
program.
Over
the next three to five years, these farmers and ranchers will receive annual
payments based on the acres they have enrolled and the price of the offsets
traded that year. In addition to no-till and seeded grass offsets, credits can
also be earned with prescribed grazing on native rangeland, tree planting
projects, and methane capture projects. Additional carbon pools will be
marketed in the coming months.
The
program is entirely voluntary, but contracts are considered legally binding
once signed. More information on the program can be found at www.nebraskafarmersunion.org or
www.nfu.org.
Nebraska
Farmers Union is the state’s second largest and oldest general farm
organization representing 5,000 farm and ranch families and the rural
communities they live in. The mission
of Nebraska Farmers Union is to improve the economic well-being and quality of
life of family farmers and ranchers, and the rural communities they live
in.
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