In its monthly meeting Wednesday, the State Ag Board will host two Newsom cabinet members, an industry leader in carbon offset markets and the head of Western Growers.
“I’m hopeful that market-driven opportunities…will be a viable possibility in the not-too-distant future,” said CDFA Secretary Karen Ross, who will join a discussion on innovation and resilience with the governor’s research director, Kate Gordon.
In a separate panel, Debbie Reed, the executive director of the Ecosystem Services Market Consortium (ESMC), will share how growers can benefit from carbon offset credits.
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ESMC plans to launch a voluntary market to sell carbon and water quality and quantity credits for the ag sector by 2022. It is supported with more than $23 million from corporate members and USDA’s Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research. The consortium has nine regional pilot projects: four in the Corn Belt, three in the southern Plains, one in the Pacific Northwest and one in the Great Lakes region.
Several tech companies are also setting up carbon markets for ag.
