Carbon credits to cut US emissions may benefit big animal operations but lock out small, climate-friendly food producers Nicole and Aaron Bradley’s diversified livestock farm is a far cry from the industrial pig operations that dominate the landscape in North Carolina, the second biggest pork-producing state in the US. Instead of confining thousands of animals and managing their millions of litres of waste in lagoons that release methane, a potent greenhouse gas (GHG), the Bradleys raise 200 pigs at a time on pasture and in wooded areas, where the animals’ manure is integrated into the ground naturally as fertiliser. Similarly, they move their 40 grass-fed cattle using a “mob” grazing system that maximises soil health, with laying hens following behind. “One of the biggest things we focus on is biodiversity of plants and wildlife. We’re trying to create and steward ecosystems,” says Aaron. Research shows that systems that integrate managed grazing, permanent soil cover and added biodiversity can take carbon out of the atmosphere and increase a farm’s ability to confront weather extremes. You might imagine that Colfax Creek Farm, North Carolina, would be first on the list to benefit from agricultural carbon markets, touted by politicians and the Biden administration as a way to help the US reduce emissions while boosting farmers’ incomes. However, some farmers and climate activists say smaller diversified farms using regenerative practices will not benefit financially. Carbon markets could also lock in monoculture crop systems and industrial-scale animal operations that degrade the environment and make it harder for smaller farms to compete. “If farms are small or have more diverse operations that bring in other benefits around biodiversity and water, but not narrowly only about carbon, they’re closed out,” says Ben Lilliston, director of rural strategies and climate change at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP),... |