"You can imagine a stock exchange-type trading system where farmers sell carbon credits to companies that need to buy them to stay in compliance with environmental regulations," Turco said.
Purdue, through its partnership with CASMGS, is developing a Web-based system that would allow such trading to take place.
Bernie Engle, professor of agricultural and biological engineering, is developing a Web site that would list the amount of carbon sequestered at particular sites, such as individual farms.
"We've built similar Web sites for water quality and other environmental issues in agriculture," Engle said. "Since carbon uptake is related to so many environmentally friendly farming practices, such as no-till, this is a natural extension of our work."
The Web site relies on computer modeling to determine the amount of carbon held in the soil.
"It's expensive to test how much carbon is in the soil, so a farmer can't do many tests," Engle said. "What we can do instead is take a few measurements and combine that information with information about the types of farming practices and environmental conditions found at that site and predict the amount of carbon uptake using these computer models, which are very good."
Such a Web site could eventually be used to sell carbon credits, Engle said.
"Our goal is to take the data from these computer models, combine it with the agronomic and environmental information in our databases, and put the information on a Web site," Engle said. "Farmers would then be able to sell carbon credits to companies that need to purchase credits to stay in compliance with environmental regulations."
In addition to the research efforts, CASMGS also emphasizes outreach programs to share information about carbon sequestration with farmers, agribusinesses and other g
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Contact: Steve Tally
tally@purdue.edu
765-494-9809
Purdue University
2-Jul-2002