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By Tom Stanley, Extension Agent
New income opportunities from land was the topic of a recent public seminar sponsored by Rockbridge Farm Bureau Federation and Virginia Cooperative Extension. The specific opportunities addressed in the seminar were nutrient banking, wetlands offsets, and carbon credits. The speaker, Casey Jensen of EcoCap-Virginia, is a service provider that assists landowners in marketing their natural resource assets in these markets. Here are the six key points from the seminar.
One, there are private industries that because of their production or operational processes or because of new developments they are pursuing, they are obligated or wish to voluntarily offset the environmental impact of these activities. One way they can accomplish this is by paying a landowner to commit their land to a particular environmental practice such as planting trees, improving forested land, or enhancing protection of a water source.
Two, these companies prefer the land be under permanent legal conservation easement but it is not required. A conservation easement helps ensure the environmental resource benefit will be in place for years into the future.
Three, land that has springs, creeks or other surface water affords more opportunities in these markets. Land where the owner has already participated in government conservation programs - fencing the creeks, in particular - is less likely to maximize its income under these programs but opportunities remain available for these properties.
Four, the opportunities for income under these “private industry nutrient or wetlands banks” appear to work best where there is currently no conservation easement and no USDA conservation work lias been done. This situation affords the landowner to leverage conservation easement, government assistance, and private industry “ecological banking” all at once to maximize both income and environmental benefits.
Five, carbon credits are currently the “bit coin of ecological assets.” There will be people that make money from carbon credits but the rules and oversight governing carbon credits are murky and subject to change. The seminar speaker expressed that standards for nutrient banking and wetland offsets were much better established and understood.
Six, there is fewer opportunities for grassland, hay meadows, and cropland in these markets currently. The emphasis of these markets is on surface water protection, forestland, and forest establishment.
For more information on natural resource markets specific to your farm or forest, contact me, Tom Stanley, at the Rockbridge Extension Office or by e-mail at [email protected].
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