Episode description

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"How to Grow and Sell Carbon Credits in US Agriculture" https://www.extension.iastate.edu/agdm/crops/html/a1-76.html

Dr. Alejandro Plastina is an Associate Professor/Extension Economist in the Department of Economics at Iowa State University (ISU). His area of specialization is agricultural production and technology, with an emphasis on farm business and financial management. His research focuses on the socioeconomic drivers of conservation practices, voluntary pest resistance management, carbon programs, and agricultural productivity.

Prior to joining ISU in 2014, Dr. Plastina was Senior Economist at the International Cotton Advisory Committee in Washington, DC. He graduated with a BA in Economics from the University of La Plata (Argentina) in 2000, and an MS in Statistics and a PhD in Agricultural Economics from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2005 and 2007, respectively.

I reached out to Alejandro when I was trying to make heads or tails of the various carbon programs that have been popping up in recent years. I wanted to know what the differences were for these programs and I found his report titled “How to Grow and Sell Carbon Credits in US Agriculture” to be one of the best resources out there. The first thing you ought to know is there are a lot of differences between carbon programs. Alejandro and his colleagues analyzed the terms associated with 13 of these programs, and he joins me today to share from a high level some of their big takeaways. If you want more detailed information to compare programs, I will link to his report in the show notes. Keep in mind that it is more than a year old so some things have changed. Also at the end of today’s interviews I ask directly for Alejandro’s advice for farmers comparing programs and he has some great tips for you there as well.