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Ag carbon credit programs fail without new climate bill

By Staff | Dec 10, 2010

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – A national program that paid farmers millions of dollars for reducing greenhouse gasses has fizzled amid uncertainty about U.S. climate legislation and will no longer taken enrollment after this year.

The program, run by the North Dakota Farmers Union, gave farmers carbon dioxide credits for using techniques that reduced emissions of gasses tied to global warming and distributed the proceeds when those credits were sold to businesses and others who needed to offset their pollution.

About 3,900 farmers and ranchers from 40 states have earned about $7.4 million through the program started in 2006.

But Farmers Union president Robert Carlson said credits that sold for up to $7 a metric ton a few years ago are now worthless, and he doesn’t expect the price to rebound without federal legislation.