Conservation leader says carbon programs need to include early adopters, better pay

Conservation leader says carbon programs need to include early adopters, better pay

One of the early innovators in Wisconsin’s recently-expanded producer-led watershed protection grant program says farmers should not be left out of new carbon sequestration programs because they started doing the right things a decade ago.

Jeff Endres is a dairy farmer and the chairman of Yahara Pride Farms, a farmer-led watershed protection group focused on keeping nutrients out of the Yahara River, which feeds the lakes surrounding Madison, Wisconsin.  Endres tells Brownfield many farmers have implemented cover crops, no-till, and other practices but so far, won’t benefit from the proposed carbon programs.