AgroNum : Additionality - Barbota et al. 2023
ADDITIONALITY is one of the many issues concerning carbon-farming. Additionality implies that some sort of soil organic carbon (SOC) baseline easily set at the plot level is known and recognized. Lack of will lead to a sentiment of unfairness and free-riding.
For instance, Barbota et al. 2023 (https://lnkd.in/eyKSKDu9) emphasize this additionality problem inherent to conventional carbon farming. [abstract] “Carbon offset credit payments for agricultural soil carbon sequestration are reaching farmers who were already implementing these practices or were already interested in implementing these practices /.../ payments for the offset credits are seen as a ‘gravy on top’, suggesting that these offset markets face strong challenges of ensuring true additionality.” [discussion] “/…/ farmers joked that they should stop cover-cropping for a few years so they could re-start and earn more credits. /…/ the fact that farmers perceive that they are being paid for what they were already doing or would otherwise do not being paid, and that farmers themselves perceive that their credits are not additional demonstrates further disconnection about what additionality means.” (sic)
Put aside the benign cynicism, this lack of additionality is indeed seen as unfair & burdensome. In a previous post (https://lnkd.in/eB3NQ-4R), Polyor SAS (https://lnkd.in/exiTpR5a) noted that the difficult task of setting baseline SOC levels could be circumvented using AgroNum N-fertilizer response curves instead. AgroNum response curves as baseline, or benchmarks, also address this fairness issue as indicated in the said post, ... and this very ergonomically.
#carbonfarming #eucarbonremoval #carbonoffset #sustainableagriculture #soilconservation #soil #fertilizers #durabilité #agriculturedurable
