Oregon Ag Carbon Work Group

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Oregon Ag Carbon Work Group
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Introduction

• Agriculture represents a small percentage of
  greenhouse gas emissions
• Ag likely wont be regulated under a greenhouse
  gas reduction program
• Voluntary agricultural practices can help reduce
  greenhouse gas emissions and sequester carbon

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Ag Carbon Work Group

• Evaluated opportunities for agricultural offsets
• Focused on voluntary sequestration/GHG reduction
  projects
• Ag groups, environmental groups, agencies, offset
  experts participated

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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

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Key offset criteria

• Additional - what will be eligibility date?
• Real
• Quantifiable - baseline vs. project reductions
• Outside of capped sectors
• Permanent

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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?

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GHGs evaluated

• Carbon dioxide
• Methane
• Nitrous oxide

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GHG Mitigation

• Soil sequestration practices
• Nutrient management
• Irrigation water management
• Manure management
• Livestock diet management

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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)

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Nitrous oxide reductions

• Application rates/timing
• Precision application
• Controlled-release products
• Irrigation water management
• Several research needs identified

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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

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Manure management

• Minimize anaerobic conditions - aerate manure in
  lagoons
• Avoid long storage periods
• Avoid application to saturated soils
• Anaerobic digesters

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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.

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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 wont be
  enough to encourage them

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Conclusions

• We know there are GHG reduction and carbon
  sequestration benefits from many practices, but
  just arent 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

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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

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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

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Conclusions

• Marketing can be another important benefit of
  documenting GHG reductions and carbon
  sequestration - both developing new markets and
  keeping existing markets

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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