Carbon Farming

Carbon farming (also known as carbon sequestration) is a system of agricultural management that helps the land store more carbon and reduce the amount of Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) that it releases into the atmosphere. Carbon farming explicitly recognises that it is solar energy that drives farm ecosystem dynamics and that carbon is the carrier of that energy within the farm system.

Agriculture covers more than half of Earth’s terrestrial surface and contributes roughly one-third of global GHG emissions.

According to the Third Biennial Update Report submitted by the Government of India in early 2021 to the UNFCCC, the agriculture sector contributes 14% of the total GHG emissions.

Carbon Farming: a Viable Option

• Climate Friendly: Carbon farming promises a bold new agricultural business model – one that fights climate change, creates jobs, and saves farms that might otherwise be unprofitable.

• Optimising Carbon Capture: It is a whole farm approach to optimising carbon capture on working landscapes by implementing practices known to improve the rate at which CO2 is removed from the atmosphere and stored in plant material and/or soil organic matter.

• Carbon farming can incentivise our farmers to introduce regenerative practices in their agricultural processes helping them shift their focus from improving yields to functioning ecosystems and sequestering carbon that can be sold or traded in carbon markets.

• Farmer Friendly: It not only improves the health of soil but can also result in improved quality, organic and chemical-free food along with boosted/secondary income from carbon credits for the marginalised farmers.
• Growth in Carbon Market: The total value of the global carbon markets grew by 20% in 2020 — the fourth consecutive year of record growth — and is well on its way in raising a critical mass of investors.

Carbon thus can effectively prove to be the ‘cash crop’ of the future for farmers

In India, Meghalaya is currently working on a blueprint of a ‘carbon farming’ Act to create a prototype of sustainable agriculture model for the entire North-East region. Sikkim became the first State in the world to become fully organic in 2016.

Steps can be Taken to Encourage Carbon Farming?

Soil is one of the most untapped and underutilised defences against climate change and acts as an efficient carbon sink.

Legal Backing for Carbon Farming: An extensive and pioneering carbon farming Act with a robust transition plan can effectively demonstrate the idea of creating a carbon sink on working land.

Carbon Credits and Carbon Banks: The farmers can be rewarded through globally tradable carbon credits. Carbon banks can also be created that would buy and sell carbon credits from farmers. Paying farmers to restore carbon-depleted soils offers a great opportunity for a natural climate solution and to stabilise global warming below 2°C.