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Cultivating a Carbon Farmer through Communication
Cultivating a Carbon Farmer through Communication
Knowing your producer’s reason(s) for engaging with carbon farm planning will help you target your message effectively. A common entry point is to discuss how carbon farming can support the producer’s production goals. It can be fruitful to find and push the boundaries of your producer’s interests, but be sensitive to and respectful of where those boundaries are. Frame the work in terms the producer is receptive to and be ready to back off or pivot to an alternative approach as needed.
Tips for Communications
Tips for Communications
Getting to know your Farmer/Rancher
Honor your producer’s knowledge
Know your entry point; what matters to your producer? Producers come to carbon farming for many different reasons;
Interest in carbon’s role in the productivity of the farm
Interest in carbon markets
Desire to build farm resilience to extreme weather events
Concern about climate change
Curiosity about a new subject
Take the necessary time to engage the producer in enough depth to come to a common understanding of why you are co-developing the Plan; connect carbon and the carbon cycle to resource concerns and production issues the producer is already aware of on the farm. Mentioning emerging carbon markets can be of interest to most producers, but be clear that these markets are not yet developed, can be difficult to access and are not currently offering significant dollars per tonne of sequestered CO2, (except for some commodity producers with large acreages). If the producer is interested, explain the mechanisms of terrestrial carbon capture and storage, using existing examples on the farm as much as possible.
It is common for producers to initially resist putting practices in the plan that they cannot imagine implementing in the very near term; remind the producer that the plan does not obligate them to do anything, but is an attempt to chronicle all potential opportunities in case resources for implementation become available, and/or carbon markets render those practices attractive.
Establish Your Carbon Farm Planning Team
Who is on the team?
Who is on the team?
You are not alone in Carbon Farm Planning
You are not alone in Carbon Farm Planning
Carbon Farm Planning is a collaborative effort among the producer and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) or Conservation District (CD) and other supporting entities, under the guidance of a trained carbon farm planner. The Carbon Cycle Institute has partnered with CDs to build a Carbon Farming Network to advance carbon farming and increase working land productivity and resilience through improved soil health to mitigate climate change. While building a carbon farming network may take time, building a collaborative carbon farm planning network can be a powerful tool to support the advancement of regional carbon farming programs.
Scroll through the carousel on the right to explore those involved in the Carbon Farm Planning Process.
Introductory meeting
Introductory meeting
Schedule at least a phone conversation and potentially a site visit with the producer to start building your relationship! During the meet and greet it is important to discuss and start to understand the producer's:
Interest and understanding of carbon farming
This will help you to determine what type of materials you will need to provide to them for additional education and what concepts you may or may not need to share with them.
Ability to actively participate in the carbon farm planning process
How much time are they willing/able to commit to this process
What do they want to gain out of this process
Questions and concerns about the process
General commitment to carbon farm practice implementation and increasing the carbon sequestration capacity and ecological function and resilience of their farm operation.
Information sharing
Information sharing
Share introductory informational resource materials with the producer.
Informational resource materials can include:
Fact sheets
A list of NRCS carbon and climate-beneficial Conservation Practices
Conservation Practice co-benefits
Climate Beneficial Program information
Other pertinent information about carbon farming and a description of your organization’s role in the carbon farm planning process.
Site Visit
Who should attend a site visit?
Who should attend a site visit?
It is important to have all decision-makers present and on board at the first meeting. This includes the Carbon Farm Planner, landowner, lessee, ranch manager and local technical assistant experts, which may include:
Agronomist/ Soil Scientist
Agroecologist
Rangeland Specialist
Agroforestry Specialist
Others that may not be included here
What should you bring to a site visit?
What should you bring to a site visit?
What to bring to the site visit
What to bring to the site visit
Printed map(s) of the farm/ranch (preferably 11" x 17" minimum size) including; contour lines, stream layer, and soils layer for all attendees.
A device (GPS unit/phone) with GPS capabilities to document and record site-specific information for use in Carbon Farm Plan map development.
Sharpie/pen to write on the map, camera, and field notebook.
Field equipment: shovel or soil probe
Who is involved in conducting a site visit?
Who is involved in conducting a site visit?
Walk the Land
Walk the Land
A site visit(s) with the producer or land manager might be the most important part of the process as it is the beginning of building your relationship with the producer and with the working landscape. During your visits, you will assess and inventory working lands for carbon capture opportunities.
Discuss goals with the producer, expectations around practice implementation and documentation,
Take notes and photos of current
carbon-beneficial farming practices and other ecosystem enhancement activities,
Identify potential sites and practices for carbon capture,
Inventory where practices have already been implemented (usually not more than 3 - 5 years prior to writing the CFP) or are in progress.
Identify initial resource concerns and their relationship to on-farm carbon cycling.
This site visit could take 3-5 hours, and even several days, depending on the size and scope of the operation.
Next steps after site visit
Next steps after site visit
The planner reviews and compiles information from site visits and notifies the producer of any additional carbon farm practices that the producer may want to consider incorporating into their carbon farm plan; clarify unresolved questions, and provide supporting and educational information on practices discussed, as needed.
Schedule Milestones/Timelines
Establish team meetings, planning check-ins
Set a target date for CFP 50-75% completion
Set a completion date for CFP
Create a system for sharing information with the planning team, eg. google or dropbox shared folder
Review example Carbon Farm Plans and use as a template (if helpful)
Guidance tables, (see examples created by CCI )
Resources necessary for the plan, including relevant literature
* We will discuss these throughout Module 2 and 3.
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Discussion board: If you have any questions throughout Module 2, please use the discussion board below to post.
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