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10 CapitalPress.com Friday, December 27, 2019 Farmer looks to cash in on carbon storage Federal judge halts Iowa’s By DENNIS PILLION Associated Press ALICEVILLE, Ala. — Deep in west Alabama, in a part of the state where most economic activity grows up from the ground, one woman is hoping to get paid for what she’s putting back into the soil. Aliceville farmer Annie Dee, who runs the Dee River Ranch in Pickens County, is one of a growing number of farmers who are signed up to get paid to sequester car- bon in the soil using what are being called regenerative farm techniques. Dee uses a mixture of plants such as radishes, tur- nips, clover, winter peas and oats as cover crops for her 4,000 acres of row crops. She tinkers with the mixture based on seed prices. Dee is one of the early participants in an incen- tive program run by startup Indigo Agriculture called the Terraton Initiative, which will pay farmers like her $15 per ton of carbon seques- tered in the soil where she grows crops like corn, soy- beans and timber and grazes cattle. Dee isn’t a climate change activist, but she has been an advocate of no-till farming, using cover crops and crop rotations for decades. Now she’s making a little extra bank for the added benefits of keeping carbon out of the atmosphere. “What I hope is to get paid for things that I’m already doing,” Dee said. Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are higher now than at any point in at least the past 800,000 years, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Agriculture is estimated to be responsi- File photo/TownNews.com Content Exchange A growing number of farmers are signed up to get paid to sequester carbon in the soil. Practices include using cover crops, no-till, reducing fertilizer and chemical in- puts, crop rotation and integrating livestock and crop areas. ble for 20 to 25% of global carbon emissions, but some believe it may also be the easiest and cheapest way to put carbon back in the ground. Plants naturally absorb carbon dioxide from the air, and using cover crops in between growing seasons can keep soil healthy, richer and full of carbon. The plants also break up tough soil with their roots, adding nutrients back to the soil as they break down. Indigo Ag believes farm- ers like Dee can sequester enough carbon in their soil to make a real impact in the battle to limit the impacts of climate change. The project name Terraton is a play on words from “terra,” meaning earth, and “tera,” meaning one trillion, as the stated goal of the project is to keep one trillion tons of carbon in the soil and not the atmosphere. The company says it expects farmers who use “the full suite of regener- ative growing practices” could capture 2 to 3 tons of carbon per acre per year. Those practices include using cover crops, no-till, reducing fertilizer and chemical inputs, crop rota- tion and integrating live- stock and crop areas to allow “carefully managed graz- ing” for the animals and pro- vide a bit of free fertilizer for the plants. Indigo gets its funds from large companies, individu- als and governments look- ing to purchase carbon off- sets. Indigo will earn its profits by charging for the measurement, monitoring and verification of carbon sequestration. Reserve Your Space for Upcoming IDAHO AG INNOVATORS Place your ad by Thursday January 2nd at 10AM Let this special section deliver your advertising message to our print and online readers. Contact your sales rep today or call 800-882-6789. Publication date: January 31, 2020 | Deadline: January 2, 2020 S147844-1 HARVESTING At $15 per ton, reaching its one trillion ton goal will be very expensive, but the company says that figure is actually cheaper than the other methods being tested to remove excess CO2 from the air. So far, Indigo says farm- ers have committed more than 12 million acres to the program, including 77,000 acres in Alabama. The com- pany is still recruiting partic- ipants through its website. Dee is among the larg- est participants in Alabama at roughly 10,000 acres, and she’s also in the minority because she is already using many of the recommended techniques. Indigo cites an analysis from the U.S. Department of Agriculture that estimates only one in five farmers use any of those techniques con- sistently, and less than 1% use all five. The company hopes this financial incen- tive will kick-start the more widespread adoption of more sustainable farming. “With a financial incen- tive — $15 per ton of carbon dioxide — growers are able to reduce the risk associated with transitioning to regen- erative growing practices,” the company said in a state- ment. “This new revenue stream is critical as grow- ers are faced by an increas- ing number of challenges, including extreme weather events, low commodity prices, and high input costs, that make it difficult to remain profitable each year.” Dee said she is still send- ing the company soil infor- mation to determine how much carbon she is keeping in the dirt. “I think they’re still in the figuring it out stage,” she said. Dee said the benefits of some of these techniques can be measured in labora- tory testing that many farm- ers perform now to get an idea of their soil health. Dee said that when she began farming row crops in Pick- ens County some 30 years ago, her soil had very low organic matter. Now, it’s a different story. “The organic matter, when we got here, some of our fields were less than 2%, maybe 1.5%,” Dee said. “Now some of them are as high as 7%.” Dee says the difference is visible to the eye as well as instruments. The soil is darker, richer and more fer- tile. It very rarely cracks during drought, and ero- sion is less of a problem. That leads to larger yields at harvest time of corn or soybeans. “(The soil) holds more water, it’ll hold more nutri- ents, and it’ll be a health- ier soil,” Dee said. “That’s a huge thing to build the organic matter.” ‘ag gag’ law enforcement By ROD BOSHART Journal Des Moines Bureau For the second time in less than a year, a federal court has halted enforce- ment of an Iowa law that backers say is needed to pro- tect farms from deceptive trespassers but critics say stifles animal-welfare advo- cates from exposing abuses. U.S. District Judge James Gritzner issued a prelimi- nary injunction last week to allow animal-rights activ- ists, public-interest groups and civil libertarians to pro- ceed with a lawsuit chal- lenging the constitutionality of Senate File 519 — more commonly known as Iowa’s ag-gag rule. In January, a federal judge struck down as uncon- stitutional Iowa’s origi- nal ag-gag law, which was passed in 2012 with biparti- san support. Responding quickly, the Legislature approved and Gov. Kim Reynolds signed the revised SF 519 measure last March. But the revision, too, quickly brought a challenge in federal court. “It’s a sad day for Amer- ica,” state Sen. Annette Sweeney, R-Alden, vice chair of the Senate Agricul- ture Committee, said Mon- day after the injunction was issued. One of the backers of the revised law, she had argued the statute was needed partly as a defense against the potential spread of a new African swine fever that could have had cata- strophic effects on animal agriculture, the U.S. food supply and Iowa’s econ- omy if it were introduced at a livestock operation here. Animal welfare groups and the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa cheered Monday’s devel- opment as a victory in their effort to strike down a stat- ute they say is designed to silence whistleblowers and undercover activists by punishing them for record- ing or taking photos inside factory farms, slaughter- houses and puppy mills. “We warned Iowa leg- islators that Iowa’s Ag Gag law would trample on free speech in our state, and violate the Constitu- tion,” said Rita Bettis Aus- ten, legal director for the ACLU of Iowa. “The First Amendment rights of jour- nalists, investigators and advocates that are at stake in this case are vital to our democracy.” The 42-page ruling in the U.S. Southern District of Iowa granted a prelim- inary injunction, prevent- ing the state from enforcing SF 519 while the lawsuit POLISHING DRYING to permanently block it proceeds. The court also denied the state’s motion to dis- miss the lawsuit. SF 519 created a new crime — “agricultural pro- duction facility trespass” — and made it illegal for a person to gain access to an agricultural production facility through deception if the person intends to cause “economic harm or other injury” to the “business interest” of the facility. Since someone who finds and makes public any violations of food safety protocols, environmental protections, workers’ rights or animal welfare laws can damage a business’ repu- tation, opponents say the law unconstitutionally sti- fles free speech by violat- ing provisions of the First Amendment designed to protect exposés, boycotts and protests of agricultural facilities. State Sen. Ken Rozen- boom, R-Oskaloosa, said drafters were “very careful” to model the revised Iowa law after others that have withstood court scrutiny. Rozenboom said he was “extremely disap- pointed” with Monday’s development. “I think that we in the Legislature are the ones that make the laws. I don’t think judges do that, so I’m disap- pointed,” said Rozenboom, who noted he and several relatives were victims of an attempt by activists last May who “came to me lying through their teeth, trying to get access to my building” when he raises hogs. “I’m not ready to make any projections of what I’ll do if the courts would rule this unconstitutional,” he said, “but I’m personally very disgusted that we can’t protect honest, hard-work- ing Iowans but we’ll protect criminals and people that lie for a living.” In granting the prelim- inary injunction, the court examined several prongs of a test to see if one were war- ranted. One of those tests — the public interest — is key to the plaintiffs’ argument. “Although this court seri- ously considers the pub- lic’s interest in seeing the enforcement of criminal laws, defendants have done little to show that (SF 519) responds to ongoing issues of public concern unrelated to the suppression of free speech.” Gritzner wrote. “By contrast, the public ben- efits from people and orga- nizations exercising First Amendment rights and educating the public about important issues relating to animal abuse and safety at agricultural production facilities.” 503-932-0766 S161761-1 Klopfenstein Ag Service Paid Advertisement A Pathway for the Next Gen: Leasing and Mentorship at Long Hearing Farm - A Changing Hands Story By Ashley Rood, Rogue Farm Corps “I’ve had the opportunity to farm beautiful land for my whole career,” says Anne Schwartz. “It is a joy to get younger people on the land.” After over forty years, Anne and the farm’s owner, Lois Canright, are making way for the next generation farmer for six years! I also wanted to be respectful of the others who had worked for Anne. After lots of long conversations, I said, we’ll take over the CSA.” And Long Hearing Farm, named after Elizabeth’s grandma’s grandma, came to fruition— a rural serving community supported agriculture project and an indigenous growing project. Both Anne and Lois see the value of giving Elizabeth a reasonable lease rate along with space. Anne says, “When I gave Elizabeth space, she didn’t have to take over the whole farm lease, she could take over just a corner.” Elizabeth’s advice to beginning farmers is to work on farms, “be in community with other farmers. If you feel capable–say I’m ready, I want to farm.” Today’s new farmers need support. Lois says, “Those of us that own farmland at this point are the lucky ones. We have a responsibility to try hard to find creative ways to help the next generation of farmers get on the land.” More of this story online. S159270-1 Today, hundreds of acres surrounding her farm are protected habitat so Lois’s highest priority is keeping this land in agriculture. She says, “I’m really happy that Elizabeth came along. I’ve “I feel protective of this soil,” been pushing Anne to retire says Lois. “It is premium, before things fall apart.” This and they aren’t making more year, when Anne invited her of it.” When Lois bought in the Skagit River Valley. five employees to take on the farm 15 years ago, she The success of this farm parts of the business, she transfer stems from a shared purchased it in part because said: “Bring me your project vision of keeping the land in Anne was already caring for ideas and we can make it agriculture, a long-term lease, the soil. Lois was looking happen.” community, and mentorship. to invest in continuing her “I intended to start my own family farming tradition; “Having the gift of this land food growing project, but she and her brother had just is huge,” says Elizabeth I had not expected it to be sold their family’s farm in Bragg, the next generation New Jersey—the state’s first so soon,” Elizabeth says. farmer. She says, “Beyond “I hadn’t saved money—I organic vegetable farm. having Anne as a mentor, it’s was being paid to be a also not having to pay for a cooler, or build a pack shed. There’s the soil, certified organic—Anne’s been loving that soil for over 40 years. It’s just amazing.”
