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The following are the most commonly asked questions . . . . . .. If your specific question about your operation is not answered here please do not hesitate to contact our office.

What is meant by “Continuous Conservation Tillage” as it relates to the contract requirements?

Conservation tillage definitions vary by regions and crops in ordinary everyday discussions, but for CCX offset purposes it references the 2006 Natural Resources Conservation Service National Handbook of Conservation Practices.

That means “managing the amount, orientation, and distribution of crop and other plant residue on the soil surface year –round while limiting soil disturbing activities to only those necessary to place nutrients, condition residue and plant crops”.

Planting methods referred to as “no till”, “strip till”, “direct seeding”, “zero till”, slot till”, or “zone till” are acceptable, but “ridge till” is not, due to too much disturbance and soil movement.

What implements would be acceptable for the conservation tillage contract?

No till planters, strip till planters, certain drills and air seeders, strip or knife type fertilizer and manure injectors, in row chisels or sub-soilers, and similar implements that only disturb strips and slots.  A general “rule of thumb” has been that no more than a third of the surface areas of the soil should be disturbed, for instance no more than a 3 inch wide seed and fertilizer opener on a 10 inch spacing shank air seeder, or no more than a 10 inch wide disturbed strip in a 30 inch row crop spacing.

Limited or emergency harrowing is acceptable only if necessary to spread residue to allow planting, but whole field annual harrowing is not.  Also, implements designed to chop or size cornstalks are acceptable if used only once and at shallow depths.

The use of subsoil disturbance or zone building implements is permitted as long as the third or less soil disturbance and surface sealing operations are present.

What implements are not acceptable for the conservation tillage contract?

Any implement doing full width disturbance such as moldboard plows, chisel plows with wide sweeps, discs, rotary tillers, and heavy harrows are prohibited.

Does it matter what crops I grow?

The concept of continuous no-till or conservation tillage generally is more successful with a good rotation of crops of varying types and residue production.  Generally, the use of low residue crops should be limited to no more than 3 of the 5 years in the contract, and those low residue crops may be offset with cover crops to increase residue cover.

May I remove residue like wheat straw, corn stalks, or other products?

Since the point of continuous conservation tillage is to increase organic matter over time, residue removal can slow the organic matter increase and lessen sequestration.  Removal of residue will result in no credits earned for that year, but the remainder years of the contract will be unaffected. The exception is alfalfa or similar forage crops, where the removal of residue is a normal harvest.  Haying of forage crops like alfalfa and similar crops is allowed in the conservation tillage contract.

May I chop silage on the conservation tillage contract acres?

This is treated similar to other residue removal.  No credit is earned for the year that silage made from annual crops.  Alfalfa silage is the exception.  

What happens if someone else rents or buys the land during the 5-year contract?

These carbon contracts are transferable to a new landowner or renter, as the credits are dependent on a full 5-year compliance.  A system of subcontracts is used for the succeeding land operator.

We expect contract-holders to notify us either through the annual re-certification or any other time there is a change in operational control.  Arrangements will be made to replace the original parent contract with a sub-contract to the new operator.  If a new subcontract cannot be obtained, the original contract holder is responsible for repaying any payments earned on land that is not being maintained in the carbon credit contract.