News

Survey highlights consumer knowledge, perception of carbon farming

Consumers believe farmers and ranchers have less responsibility to reduce carbon emissions, according to a recent survey by Agoro Carbon Alliance.

Caleb Smith is a conservation agronomist based in Indiana.

“Consumers really felt that farmers and ranchers do not have as much of a responsibility to fight climate change as some of these other sectors like oil and gas, manufacturing, and transportation,” he says. “That’s probably because agriculture only accounts for about 10 percent of our emissions in the United States. The transportation sector accounts for about 25%, generating electricity accounts for another 25 percent, and industry accounts for another quarter. Agriculture is not as much to blame for climate change as some of these other industries. Therefore, consumers believe that farmers and ranchers don’t have as much responsibility to fight climate change.”

The survey found that millennials and people in urban areas agree that farmers and ranchers participating in carbon programs are helping reduce climate change.

“What it really shows is that people who are traditionally not connected to agriculture feel really strongly that carbon farming can result in farmers being seen as more of a leader in this fight against climate change rather than being responsible for it,” he says. “We have fewer and fewer people that are connected to the farm, so the more people that are not connected to farms in the U.S. that feel positively about farmers participating in carbon farming, that’s a really good thing.”

Although consumers have limited understanding of the carbon market, people in urban and suburban areas are more likely than rural residents to purchase products from farmers and ranchers enrolled in carbon programs.

“People in urban and suburban areas are going to be really interested in buying carbon neutral products in the future and I think that’s an important thing to remember moving forward,” he says. “Currently the big incentive for carbon farming is payments for carbon and other ecosystem services. But, in the future for farmers, that premium could be being able to sell climate smart commodities. That will be a huge push to get farmers down this path.”

Smith says it’s good to hear the general public on board with regenerative practices, but there is room for improvement.

“We at Agoro Carbon Alliance, have a responsibility to continue to educate growers and the general public about the downstream effects of carbon sequestration and carbon positive farming,” he says. “…Agoro Carbon was launched because there was a need for a more simple path into the carbon market for American farmers. Our program is designed to be farmer friendly and farmer flexible. To us, there’s nothing more important than making sure the farmer remains profitable. Agoro’s carbon program was designed for the farmer to be very transparent and very friendly.”

Independent research conducted by Agoro Carbon Alliance studied consumer perspectives on carbon farming and its perceived effect on climate change. The survey was conducted February 25-27 and included more than 1,000 responses from U.S. adults.

Click here or here for more information.

Audio: Caleb Smith