What is "Carbon Farming" in West Marin?

What is "Carbon Farming"?

from Marin Carbon Project

Editor's Note:  Isn't this simply organic farming using compost methods most of us use in our gardens? I believe the true purpose of this project is to "farm" carbon credits to sell for cash from "Cap and Trade" polluters wishing to buy off regulators to allow them to pollute our environment. 

"I've got one of them P.H.D.s  -Piled higher and deeper."

WHAT IS CARBON FARMING?

All agricultural production originates from the process of plant photosynthesis, which uses sunshine to combine carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air with water and minerals from the soil to produce plant material, both above and below ground.

Source: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

Common agricultural practices, including driving a tractor, tilling the soil, grazing, and other activities, result in the return of CO2 to the air.  As much as one third of the surplus CO2 in the atmosphere driving climate change today has come from land management practices that cause loss of carbon, as CO2, from our working lands.

On the other hand, Carbon can be stored long-term (decades to centuries or more) in soils in a process called "soil carbon sequestration." Carbon Farming involves implementing practices that are known to improve the rate at which CO2 is removed from the atmosphere and converted to plant material and/or soil organic matter.  Carbon Farming is successful when carbon gains resulting from enhanced land management and/or conservation practices exceed carbon losses.