Veteran no-till farmer Jim Kinsella, Lexington, IL, recently wrote to Corn & Soybean Digest editors, calling the carbon credit program “a scam on the environment and the general public.” See a copy of his letter.

In the letter, Kinsella states that “the primary beneficiaries of this program appear to be the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) and the aggregators, who receive nearly as much as farmers to administer the program.” He also states that the carbon credit payments aren’t nearly enough to cause a farmer to switch from a traditional tillage system to a no-till system.

I’d be interested in hearing from others of you who may feel the same way and also from those of you who may disagree. What do you think? Is the government carbon credit program a good thing for farmers, and the environment, or not?

Another potential scam that Kinsella fails to mention in his letter is the whole issue of global warming and whether there really is a need to reduce CO2 emissions at all. If you’d like to write in on that issue, I’d be glad to hear from you as, well.

Read an article that I wrote, last year, on global cooling. Read an article I wrote on global warming last year. (Hey, it’s always best to look at both sides of an issue – right?)

In the meantime, several farmer groups are voicing concerns over legislation currently being debated in Washington on climate change. Read recent articles on climate change and cap and trade issues.

I look forward to hearing from those of you have a passion about these issues (both pro and con). When writing, please let me know your name, where you farm or work, what your thoughts are, why you believe them to be true and whether or not I have permission to use your comment in a future Corn E-Digest newsletter.

You can contact me (John Pocock) at: [email protected].

As always, you’re welcome to write to me if you have a comment on any topic related to corn production or if you have concerns or questions about this issue. Thanks for your readership – and farm on!