2002 is the SSCA's 15th anniversary. Over the past 15 years, SSCA has been a very active group contacting up to 10,000 producers annually through various meetings, tours and field days. Over 12,000 producers have attended the 14 direct seeding conferences for an average attendance of 850. No too bad considering the first few conferences had fewer than 200 attending. A history of the first 10 years can found on our web site. (http://ssca.usask.ca/newsletters/issue22/ssca10.htm)
In January, SSCA held a series of six member meetings to inform our membership on the latest information on soil sinks and Roundup-Ready Wheat. Over 100 members attended the six meetings. The meetings were well received by those attending with lots of discussion on these two issues. Overall, we were very happy with the attendance at the meetings and with the quality of the discussion. I have summarized the main points from the presentations below.
There were three presentations at each of the meetings:
In my presentation, I pointed out that last year agricultural activities were formally accepted as a sink activity under the Kyoto Protocol. These agricultural activities can be under either cropland or grazing land management. Carbon sequestered in shelterbelts would fall under either of these activities since they don't fit the definition of a forest. Accounting for agricultural activities is on a "Net-Net" basis. This means a country can get credit for the annual difference between net emissions in 2008-2012 and net emissions in 1990. For example, since Canada had net emissions of 6 Mt/yr of CO2 in 1990 and is expected have a net sink of 10 Mt/yr by 2010, the countries net emissions in 2010 would be 16 Mt/yr (10+6). The other significant outcome of the international meetings is the recognition that emission reductions are different from emission removals (sinks) and requires different accounting methods. To do this, a Removal Unit (RMU) was created for sink accounting. For more information, download the COP 7 report from the United Nations climate change site. http://unfccc.int
John Bennett's presentation focused on the potential risks to farmers to trade carbon. Two realities that we recognized were that the sequestration rate will eventually reach a new equilibrium where carbon is neither being gained or lost and that sinks are reversible. The risk of selling carbon credits is that while the buyer is able to offset their emissions, the farmer is left with the liability of maintaining the sink. If the land is tilled in the future, releasing the carbon, the farmer now is the emitter and may face some penalty. Since the problem is likely to be a bigger concern in the future, the farmer could face buying back carbon at a higher price. To prevent this transfer of liability, SSCA has been advocating treating greenhouse gas removals as a service. In this instance, a farmer would agree to remove CO2 from the atmosphere and store it for a fixed period of time (i.e. 5 years). This concept is similar to renting storage space. After that period was up, the emitter would have to either renew the lease or find another storage option. With this method, a farmer can lease out more storage space as the sink size increases. If the sink size decreases, he loses only the right to lease storage space. For more information visit the SSCA web site: http://ssca.usask.ca/positions/risk.html .
Monsanto's presentation was to provide our membership with an update on their progress, to date, with Roundup-Ready Wheat. Those attending were encouraged to ask questions and raise their concerns about this product. There was good and sometimes vigorous discussion on this topic. SSCA's members expressed concerns about marketing, grain handling and volunteer management. The members were also skeptical of the potential benefits. In the simplest terms, Monsanto responded by stating that they will not release Roundup-Ready Wheat until the issues surrounding marketing, grain handling and volunteer management are addressed. Monsanto has currently completed their first year of research to support their regulatory submissions for variety registration. Monsanto is sponsoring Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada to conduct agronomic research on the Roundup-Ready Wheat fits into different rotations and tillage systems. This includes development of a product to control volunteers. If you would like more information please contact your local Monsanto rep.
Good luck in 2002.