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Central Valley, where the cover crops can com- Experts urge patience, say research
pete for valuable soil moisture, he said.
will take time
The research taking place there and across
the country will show which farmers in which Answers to researchers’ questions are needed
parts of the country may benefit the most from quickly. Food and apparel companies are under
so-called carbon farming, and the findings also pressure from consumers to reduce emissions
will provide guideposts for industry sectors that from their supply chains, private credit markets
are trying to reduce their emissions to satisfy are starting up, and President-elect Joe Biden
customers’ demands: Livestock producers, for has made agricultural carbon credits a major
example, may find that adjusting feed sources part of his climate plans.
could help them show animals were produced Robert Bonnie, who leads the Biden transition
with a smaller impact on the environment. advisory team for USDA, has proposed using
the Commodity Credit Corp. to set up a car-
In order to leverage the ag sector to achieve car-
bon reduction goals, “we need to have the tools to bon bank that would buy and sell carbon offsets
be able to measure the carbon harvest as accu- from farmers. That’s the same CCC the Trump
rately as we measure, you know, a corn harvest or administration has been using to make trade
a wheat harvest,” says David Babson, program assistance and coronavirus relief payments to
director at the Department of Energy’s Advanced farmers.
Research Projects Agency-Energy, or ARPA-E, The carbon bank proposal is included in a cli-
which is heavily involved in funding the research. mate policy memo produced by a group of

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