Module 2: Planning through a Carbon Lens

Carbon Farm Planning differs from other land use planning approaches by focusing on the working land's ability to capture and store carbon in on-farm carbon pools; permanent and standing vegetation, the harvested crop, and soil organic matter. Certain on-farm management choices contribute to the gradual loss of carbon from these pools; successful carbon farm planning and implementation moves the operation towards a net increase of carbon in the agroecosystem. Carbon Farm Planning leverages the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) whole-systems conservation planning process and uses carbon and carbon capture as the organizing principle around which the plan is designed. The focus of the carbon farm plan is on identification of all on-farm opportunities for reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and enhanced carbon capture and storage by both plants and soils. Increasing on-farm carbon capture as biomass and, most importantly, soil organic carbon, is the resource concern of overriding importance for the CFP process. Building the list of carbon capture opportunities is a brain-storming process; it should be as extensive as possible, including everything the farmer and planners can think of that could potentially reduce emissions and capture and sequester carbon on the farm. While actions proposed in the Plan should reflect the inherent limits of the farm ecosystem, financial considerations should not limit this initial brainstorming process, as one goal of the CFP process is to identify potential funding opportunities, above and beyond existing resources, to realize implementation of the Plan.