Carbon Credits

[westernvicki]

Oliver is right. Canada is a carbon sink.

We will still get the tax.

[westernvicki]

Oliver is right. Canada is a carbon sink.

We will still get the tax.

And so we should at the very least lobby for credit to offset the increasing costs which are about to come down the pipe, costs we cannot pass on.

[westernvicki]

Who is taking the lead?

[saskcanfarmer]

Who is taking the lead?

Vicky - Western Canadian Wheat Growers are the only org that has taken action. They have been in the news the last few months with op-eds and now have a petition going.

Http://carbontax.wheatgrowers.ca

[grassfarmer]

Some of you seem to be putting the cart in front of the horse. Canada's trees by some accounts sequester a lot of C02 so farmers should all be getting carbon credits? Is that the same farmers that have spent the last few decades cutting down all the trees and removing bush on their land? The majority of Canada's trees are on crown land so the Government needn't be paying anyone for them.
It is my understanding that modern crop farming methods even with zero or min-tillage are likely still net emitters. Ranchers/farmers that permanently over graze their pastures (seems to be the vast majority) are likely getting so little production per acre that it won't cancel out their methane emissions either.

Indications are that the agricultural lands of the earth could sequester enough C02 to take us back to pre-industrial revolution levels but this could only be achieved by the methods advocated in the Holistic Management info I posted the other day. Maybe the most beneficial thing many of you could do this winter is take a Holistic Management course? I think most people find it money well spent.

[sumdumguy]

Grassfarmer, crown land belongs to all Canadians. Canada is syncing at least 4times as much as it is emitting. Why should there be a carbon tax in this country at all. The emitting nations should be paying Canada but they probably know carbon has nothing to do with climate change. That's why they call BS. The brain washing propaganda machine has fooled a lot of people but not all of the people.

[tweety]

plowing the residue under would capture .

actually that is how it is released

[checking]

Gassyfarmer,

Talk about putting the cart before the horse.

If I have one upland tree on my property, it is one more than my great grandfather had the moment he sighted his homestead location, and one more than the eons before. A carbon emitter called fire in the tall grass prairie saw to it.

Your kind, the kind that know only the present, and yet talk about agriculture in the classroom are dangerous.

What exists today around me is pothole country surrounded by tens of thousands of willows and poplar trees, not counting the thousands of other species that I have planted. If I chose to bring it back to pre-settlement conditions, none of those existing carbon sinks would be present.

[grassfarmer]

Gassyfarmer,

Talk about putting the cart before the horse.

If I have one upland tree on my property, it is one more than my great grandfather had the moment he sighted his homestead location, and one more than the eons before. A carbon emitter called fire in the tall grass prairie saw to it.

Your kind, the kind that know only the present, and yet talk about agriculture in the classroom are dangerous.

What exists today around me is pothole country surrounded by tens of thousands of willows and poplar trees, not counting the thousands of other species that I have planted. If I chose to bring it back to pre-settlement conditions, none of those existing carbon sinks would be present.

That may vary from region to region - here we are in the oak savannah ecosystem there are a lot less trees than their used to be and it seems every neighbouring farmer is still at war with the planet. Cutting and burning every little 3 acre stand of trees on the edge of a quarter. I remember the discussion on here from SF3 and others about the benefit of taking out every treeline so that the snow (and moisture) would blow right past and land on the neighbours. The mentality of modern grain farmers on the prairies seems overwhelmingly to favour removing trees versus planting them.

Besides before you all claim to be tree-huggers all of the sudden you might want to read this as the science on trees in relation to global warming and C02 capture is not as simple as you think. This article from Scientific American concludes tropical forests are carbon sinks but boreal forests contribute to global warming.

[URL="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/tropical-forests-cool-earth/"]http://https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/tropical-forests-cool-earth/[/URL]

[furrowtickler]

So grassy , do you have a cattle drive to get your cattle to market ? Or are they shipped by truck ?

[grassfarmer]

Of course not, we have to be realistic. I can produce fat cattle off grass here with a heck of a lot less fossil fuel use than the average. Born here, grown here, fattened here on forage then shipped to the butcher versus rancher shipping calf to auction, shipped from auction to backgrounding and then to finishing feedlot, grain trucked into feedlot, manure trucked out of feedlot. The commodity cattle model is a fossil fuel burner and the cow doesn't need that.

[blackpowder]

Ive wondered aloud lately that the beef producer in Canada at least, will have to be more of a grass fed model in order to sell the worlds already most expensive protein to the people here that will pay for it.
Using less feed grains. Arguably more efficient I suppose.
Applying those same holistic techniques to the rest of our acres that now produce cash crops ultimately for export; would be a long process leaving the industry looking very different. Possibly even impossible with current technology.
Interesting to note. I have a relation currently employed in China to help develop feedlots for (I believe) a large dairy producer there.
What we tear down with glee and abandon, the majority of the world is racing to build.
I think if your lucky or smart enough to work yourself into a semi-insulated niche, then for christs sake stick to your own knitting.

[blackpowder]

Regarding Vickis question. As far as ive heard yet, the wcwga only one so far. Sign their online petition.
Support anti ndp rallies.

[checking]

So, gas farmer, what exactly is your beef about SF3 removing fence line trees when you apparently agree with your quoted study that boreal forest land contributes to global warming. Should he not be given credit for eliminating a harm.

What's your beef about high grass plain farmers from removing non-tropical trees from their property.

It was stated today on facebook news that males receive their intelligence from their mother's X chromosome. Clearly, that explains JT's problem.

[westernvicki]

Apparently the well kept secret is: work is being done, and time will tell. Hope springs eternal.