06/14/07 Carbon Credits for Farmers

As the great carbon credit hoax continues to gain steam cleansing the consciousness of urbanite Al Gore groupies, some farmers are reaping financial benefits from this latest global warming frenzy. North Dakota farmers must be chuckling all the way to the bank for being paid thousands of dollars to do what most do anyway, leave some land untilled. Purportedly 8 million acres of the 30 million acres of Dakota cropland fits the no-till guidelines and of the 8 million 830,000 acres are enrolled in the states innovative carbon credit program. The group brokering the carbon credits, Chicago Climate Exchange is made up of corporations, communities and universities that want to buy away their emissions problems through purchasing carbon credits that typically sell for $3.70 cents a metric ton. The 630 North Dakota farmers who had the foresight to sign up for novel carbon credit program offered through the North Dakota Farmers Union last year banked some big "green" bucks that should more than cover their "green" fees at sunny resorts down south this winter