Missouri pilot project allows farmers to try carbon markets

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Missouri pilot project allows farmers to try carbon markets

A Missouri pilot project gives farmers a new low-risk opportunity to explore carbon markets. The market can be visualized as making carbon deposits and withdrawals from the soil, said Darrick Steen, environmental director for the Missouri Soybean Merchandising Council.

“And if you have more deposits of carbon in the soil than withdrawals,” Steen told Brownfield Ag News, “then you have a credit of carbon that could potentially hold value to entities that are looking to either offset their own carbon emissions, or that are trying to reduce carbon emissions within their supply chain.”

The project – in partnership with Missouri Corn, MFA and the Ecosystem Services Market Consortium – gives farmers an opportunity to better understand carbon markets through voluntary participation, according to Steen.

“Hopefully, if these markets turn out to be robust,” said Steen, “there’ll be some income opportunities for farmers in the future.”

The two-year pilot project begins this growing season and continues through 2022.