oregon ag carbon work group
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Oregon Ag Carbon Work Group. Introduction. Agriculture represents a small percentage of greenhouse gas emissions Ag likely won’t be regulated under a greenhouse gas reduction program Voluntary agricultural practices can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and sequester carbon. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Oregon Ag Carbon Work Group
Introduction
Agriculture represents a small percentage of greenhouse gas emissions
Ag likely won’t be regulated under a greenhouse gas reduction program
Voluntary agricultural practices can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and sequester carbon
Ag Carbon Work Group
Evaluated opportunities for agricultural offsets
Focused on voluntary sequestration/GHG reduction projects
Ag groups, environmental groups, agencies, offset experts participated
“Offsets” Overview
Reduction, removal or avoidance of emissions that compensates for emissions elsewhere
Available for non-regulated sectors Used by regulated sectors to help
comply with caps in cap-and-trade program
Key offset criteria
Additional - what will be eligibility date? Real Quantifiable - baseline vs. project
reductions Outside of capped sectors Permanent
Key questions
What types of practices will be eligible for offsets?
How to reward early adopters What potential do various practices in
Oregon have to reduce emissions? What prices are necessary to
encourage these practices?
GHGs evaluated
Carbon dioxide Methane Nitrous oxide
GHG Mitigation Soil sequestration
practices Nutrient management Irrigation water
management Manure management Livestock diet
management
Soil Sequestration Reduced tillage Crop rotation Pasture/range management Some data for east side Less data for west side Per-ton incentives will
probably be fairly low for E Oregon (although lots of other benefits from sequestered C)
Nitrous oxide reductions Application rates/timing Precision application Controlled-release products Irrigation water management Several research needs identified
Livestock diet management
Animal selection/breeding Improve feed digestibility Additives to reduce
methane production Little to no net economic
benefit from practices; so incentives would help encourage them
Need more research to be able to quantify benefits
Manure management
Minimize anaerobic conditions - aerate manure in lagoons
Avoid long storage periods Avoid application to saturated soils Anaerobic digesters
Energy projects
Most energy efficiency and renewable energy projects will not be eligible for offsets in the long-term.
Benefits of these projects will be claimed at the utility level.
However, there are other incentives available for these types of projects.
Some conclusions of group
Good practices for offsets in Oregon:– Digesters - benefits are really easy to quantify– Soil sequestration practices are eligible for some
programs already
Problems with offsets for other practices:– Need to reward early adopters– Not enough data to quantify the benefits of many
practices in Oregon at this time– Payment amounts for some practices won’t be
enough to encourage them
Conclusions
We know there are GHG reduction and carbon sequestration benefits from many practices, but just aren’t able to quantify them
It makes sense to offer incentives for these practices - just not necessarily “offsets”
Farm Bill seems to be an appropriate mechanism
Many FOTG practices already providing benefits
Conclusions
Reward “ecosystem services” that producers are providing, including erosion control, water quality protection, wildlife habitat, GHG reduction, and carbon sequestration
Allow “stackable” incentives - in other words, payments for each type of service provided by the producer
Conclusions
Need more research to help quantify benefits of a variety of practices
Also need technical assistance resources to assist producers with GHG reduction and carbon sequestration practices
Many GHG benefits described in FOTG - describe benefits for all practices that reduce GHGs and sequester carbon
Conclusions
Marketing can be another important benefit of documenting GHG reductions and carbon sequestration - both developing new markets and keeping existing markets
Next steps
Add a column about magnitude of effects to the “Climate Friendly FOTG practice” list
Identify systems of practices and compare benefits to other systems