Sam Brownback: “Despite my concerns about many other provisions in this farm bill--I am very pleased to see that our carbon…”

“Despite my concerns about many other provisions in this farm bill--I am very pleased to see that our carbon sequestration provisions are included. This portion could help build a new market for farmers--one that pays them for how they produce, not just what they produce. The Wyden-Brownback amendment builds on this promise and expands it to help us explore how carbon trading might work by using our cooperatives. Carbon sequestration is a largely untapped resource that can buy us the one thing we need most in this debate: time. The Department of Energy estimates that over the next 50 to 100 years, agricultural lands alone could have the potential to remove anywhere from 40 to 80 billion metric tons of carbon from the atmosphere. If we expand this to include forests, the number will be far greater--indicating there is a real difference that could be made by encouraging a carbon sink approach.”