Fight against climate change:

Australia's carbon farmers in quiet revolution

On the rolling hills of Winona, a fine merino sheep stud, a quiet revolution is taking place which Australian farmers hope will eventually see them selling soil carbon credits in the fight against climate change.

Winona's Colin Seis is one of the country's leading "carbon farmers" and has for the past 10 years been encouraging the extraction of greenhouse gas CO2 from the atmosphere and increasing the carbon content of his soil to improve pastures.

Seis estimates he has sequestered a total of 73,786 tonnes of CO2 equivalent, or 7,386 tonnes each year. As he only emits 2,200 tonnes farming, he has a credit of 5,186 tonnes of carbon.

Under Australia's planned carbon emissions trading scheme, if Seis continues sequesting carbon and maintains his credit, he could sell 5,186 tonnes for A$51,860-A$129,650 ($40,706 -$102,086), depending if the price is A$10 a tonne or A$25 a tonne.

Australia wants a formal carbon trading scheme running by 2011, with agriculture possibly included in 2015.

Australia's planned Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) will have a fixed A$10 a tonne price in the first year, followed by an open market with an expected price of A$25 a tonne. But it is unclear what type of credit farmers would be allocated in a future ETS.

"Soil is the largest carbon sink we have control of. It's a major answer (to climate change) yet it's been overlooked," said Seis. "It's so obvious because plants are the only thing taking CO2 out of the atmosphere."

The Chicago Climate Exchange in the United States has been trading soil carbon since 2005 but it is not an official offset under the Kyoto Protocol.

The United Nations food and agriculture organisation and conservation farmers are pushing for the rules to be changed at the Copenhagen climate conference in December.

WINONA, Tuesday, Reuters