The agricultural industry is uniquely positioned to become a key player in solving our climate crisis, writes Jim Blackburn, an environmental law professor, and Susan Combs, former Texas agriculture commissioner.
Rice farmer Ray Stoesser, one of the biggest rice farmers in Texas, looks at his crop Wednesday, July 26, 2017 in Raywood. Farmers and ranchers in Texas today are facing one of the largest transformations in their industry since barbed wire and tractors. The agricultural industry is uniquely positioned to become a key player in solving our climate crisis, and we all need to help them make this transition.
Or imagine a rancher who intentionally restores native grass species that have root systems 10 or 15 feet deep — roots that pump carbon from the plant into the soil. Or imagine another rancher who adopts regenerative grazing techniques that replicate the action of buffalo herds that helped deposit large amounts of carbon in the grasslands of the United States in the past.In the last two examples, photosynthesis is the carbon removal technology.
Stated otherwise, nature-based infrastructure is about building, supporting and maintaining the organizational structure that will foster a market that pays farmers and ranchers for removing carbon even as they continue to raise cattle and crops. The current agricultural market system does not sufficiently recognize the value that landowners could offer in addressing our global climate challenge.
Markets are not created by regulation. Instead, we need a basic incentive system that pays landowners for the carbon dioxide that they remove and store in their soil or trees, rewarding them for being carbon farmers and ranchers.
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