CARBON FARMING: AN ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION TOOL AND A CONCRETE DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITY FOR THE AGRI-FOOD CHAIN

The inevitable starting point from which to start the effective and efficient implementation of policies aimed at contrasting the growing environmental emergency, within which the prominent role is assumed by climate change, is certainly represented by the fundamental (both in economic and environmental terms, but including energy) agricultural-forestry sector. In order to achieve the goals set by the institutions, primarily supranational and European and, secondly, national, it is however necessary to create instruments that take the form of direct incentives for operators in the aforementioned sector, which induce them to proceed towards an ever wider and more complete adoption of practices that are consistent with the objectives dictated by the political indications: in fact, analyzing the data provided by the European Environmental Agency, it is found that over 385 million tons of CO2 emitted in Europe come from from the primary sector, emissions which represent around 10% of the continent's total emissions.

The European Commission, in December 2021, for this reason adopted the so-called "Communication on Sustainable Carbon Cycles", which has been included in the broader agricultural policy strategy called "Farm to Fork". Within the aforementioned Communication, the European body took care to clarify and specify the actions, in the short and medium term, prepared for this purpose to face the challenges posed by the new strategic objectives in environmental matters and with the specific intent to push the spread of the green business model based on carbon farming: a paradigm that rewards agricultural managers who adopt operating practices focused precisely on carbon sequestration.

The main actions set out in the aforementioned Communication are:

• promote carbon farming practices within the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and other EU programs such as LIFE and Horizon Europe and in the context of national public funding;
• promote the standardization of reporting and verification methodologies to provide a clear and reliable framework for carbon farming;
• provide better knowledge, data management and personalized advisory services to land managers.

 

Carbon farming, literally translated into "carbon cultivation", is an innovative agricultural technique that aims to store and retain the carbon present in the soil, thus preventing the dispersion of this element in the atmosphere: however, this type of processing has a positive environmental effectiveness only if it is combined with regenerative and organic agriculture methods, consequently excluding intensive and super-intensive agriculture, the latter practices traditionally widely used in the agricultural sector.

From the previous brief description, it can be intuitively deduced how this agricultural practice could make an important contribution to reducing the amount of emissions through, precisely, the incentive of agricultural operators to modify their working techniques in such a way as to make improvements such as, for example , the application of carbon-rich fertilizers, the reduction of tillage that disturbs the soil, and the planting of trees and crops that can absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The European Union hopes to achieve this ambitious result by granting players in the primary sector financial incentives prepared for this purpose which, in the view of the European public decision-maker, should help the entire sector to concentrate innovative efforts with a view to increasing attention to environmental sustainability and, consequently, leading to an increase in the share of agricultural land prepared for carbon capture.

The objective of carbon farming is, therefore, to exploit agricultural land in order to retain the carbon emissions produced by the contiguous activities that surround the land, activities that can be of an industrial, infrastructural and residential nature. By operating in this way, the main objective would be to obtain an improvement in the climate of the area, a more accentuated fertility of agricultural land and, if the conditions prove to be extremely favorable, the creation of economic and productive opportunities for the entire agri-food chain. Merely by way of example, in fact, it happens that agri-food companies could very well establish collaborative relationships with players in the primary sector by implementing an advertising strategy, perhaps highlighted in the packaging of products distributed on commercial channels, focused on enhancing the use of techniques agriculture inspired by carbon farming for the production of products subjected to industrial transformation by the aforementioned companies. Another positive note regarding the use of the technique analyzed in this article is that even companies outside the agri-food chain can still make use of the benefits it brings through the purchase of carbon farming certificates, used precisely to offset their emissions: in the final analysis, therefore, on the one hand the financial compensation in favor of the farmer creates the necessary incentive to increase the use of carbon capture techniques on the ground and, on the other hand, the local compensation of the carbon creates benefits regarding the corporate reputation; the company uses it to guarantee the brand a positive image in the eyes of the final consumer and to achieve the sustainability objectives set according to company policies.

The objective expressed by the European Commission with the massive promotional initiative focused on the use of carbon farming techniques is to obtain a net saving of emissions for a total of 42 million tons of CO2 in Europe by 2030; in order to achieve this objective, however, it is necessary to implement two further measures: first of all, the adoption of a standard methodological definition for monitoring, reporting and verification, in order to guarantee correct certification and allow the development of the carbon market and Furthermore, the offer of data management and consultancy services tailored to the entire primary sector. The European Union's strategy for structuring the use of carbon farming operating methods has been made explicit by the Commission, which proposes a first phase characterized by the launch of pilot initiatives exclusively with reference to local realities, also in the field of "eco -schemes" envisaged by the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), with the specific aim of identifying first of all any flaws or critical issues and, in the event that there is a positive response, to replicate the good practices used on a larger scale: estimates by the Commission itself show that such schemes could represent a significant source of income for European farmers, capable of increasing income for a potential amount included in the range ranging from 38 to 58 billion Euros. The remuneration schemes will be based above all on the carbon removal certifications, i.e. the certifications of the tons of CO2 accumulated by the individual farms thanks to the carbon farming activities implemented, the regulatory discipline of which remains one of the most complex operational aspects for full implementation the European operational plan on carbon farming policies; in fact, these certificates should monitor and account for the effective sequestration of carbon in the soil in a congruous and transparent manner, even if the various factors to be monitored are multiple, complex and interconnected: just think that the absorption potentials of the different soils and agricultural practices are still the subject of extensive discussion among professionals. Shared methodologies are also needed for the measurement, or rather the estimation, of the sequestered carbon, the quantity of CO2 accumulated within agricultural land depends precisely on numerous factors (the agronomic practices adopted, the climate, the meteorological trend or the composition of the soil) therefore, in the light of these assessments, the method which ensures an acceptable degree of certainty as regards the measurement of sequestered carbon dioxide is to carry out numerous samplings within an agricultural plot, both before and after cultivation, even if this method of measurement certainly presents unsustainable costs and, indeed, in stark contrast with the lucrative function that one wants to attribute to the revenues obtainable from the sale of carbon credits; for this reason, the use of remote survey instruments, such as satellites for example, and analytical models are currently the only way forward for a correct quantification of the extent of carbon sequestration, even if it is still necessary for all operators of the supply chain agree on the methodologies to be used for the estimation of these credits. The European Commission, to remedy the aforementioned critical issues, has carried out a review of some of the aforementioned eco-schemes to clarify in the best possible way their absorption potential and their possible integration with Carbon Farming, among which we can include agroforestry management and the ability to maintain and increase organic carbon in soils.

A further impediment to the complete realization of this market is represented by the current non-existence A further impediment to the complete realization of this market is represented by the current non-existence of a public register of lands that produce carbon credits, i.e. those titles that certify the absorption of carbon dioxide. An immediate consequence of this lack would be that represented by the risk that each agricultural operator can sell the same quantity of sequestered carbon dioxide to several customers. This lack is a direct consequence of any public regulation on the matter and which, as such, threatens the complete development of the market in question, precisely because the buyers of carbon credits are at the mercy of absolute uncertainty about the effective possibility of compensation of its emissions.

Despite the criticalities, even of significant importance, encountered, we are however witnessing an exponential increase in the demand for decarbonisation, both by governments and by the business world: this aspect is an incontrovertible prelude to a correlated increase also in the price of credits from carbon, a reality also confirmed by industry analysts. Hand in hand with the growing interest, the economic resources made available to the case in question are also growing, both by private individuals and by the public decision-maker: just think that in the United States of America alone, the Biden administration has launched important measures , such as the Inflation Reduction Act and the Climate Smart Commodity, which allocate large sums for the development of this market. The technology sector is also making important contributions to the cause, with the aim of creating the necessary infrastructure to carry out standard and efficient measurements of sequestered carbon, as well as the sale of credits in a stable and recognized market, for which the collaboration between all players in the supply chain and sharing the data available to them.

In order to fully carry out the colossal work of transforming the agricultural sector, it is therefore necessary to offer farms efficient solutions and which, above all, preserve the profitable characteristic of carbon farming: essential, for this purpose, remains the objective of establishing a climate of necessary trust in relation to the market, defining for this purpose a clear framework of shared rules and methodologies, so that the sector can develop without running into sudden arrests or, worse, total dissolution.