Earth Equity News

In North Dakota, Farmers Earning Money to Sequester CO2. By James MacPherson, AP, August 15, 2008. "Everett Dobrinski, [who farms near Makoti in northwestern North Dakota,] recently got a $4,000 check for storing CO2 in his soil. Dobrinski… said protecting the planet from global warming is not [his] primary [motivation for enrolling] in [the] National Farmers Union Carbon Credit Program. It's about money… North Dakota Farmers Union President Robert Carlson said 990 farmers and ranchers in the state got about $2.6 million last month for using no-till and other practices to capture CO2... The program pools carbon credits for sale on the Chicago Climate Exchange… About 2,300 farmers and ranchers in about 20 states are enrolled in the program… [and] enrollment has tripled in the past year, he said… [capturing in 2006 and 2007] CO2 from 2.8 million acres… equivalent [to] sequestering carbon from about 320,000 cars a year."