Well said. Mr Burke. Thank you for acknowledging pasture as a carbon sink.

Getting the science right, setting up the rules that should be universal will be a challenge but very possible. So much has already been done. It just needs commitment at all levels.

To keep our carbon level below 400 should be an international target. It will take effort in all aspects of managing carbon to achieve this. So the solution are many and so many need to understand the long-term implication if we doing get on our skids and tackle some of these processes that can reduce our carbon.

At Last, it will be accepted that farmers will save the world.

So soil carbon is not in the accounting framework - so why do I have carbet baggers on my doorstep trying to sign me up to sell my soil carbon.

What are the laws here? Should I sell it. How am I protected? What are the long term consequences? Who is regulating these soil carbon buyers. Why has no soil carbon been sold outside the CCX. Don't trees grow in soil?

What is the truth here? Why is a government minister supportiung it when the green paper does not? How much does it cost to measure? What happens in drought? Who takes the liability if it is lost?

The carbon seuquestration industry is rife with apparent ripp-off merchants and the government does nothing to regulate it. In fact, many governments support it.

I have seen so many clearly obvious misleading and decptive statemnts that it makes your head spin.

At last, recognition that good farming practices can contribute immediately to reversing climate change. Farming systems such as biological (which can lead to organic farming) also reward the grower with reduced costs, better water holding, quality produce and peace of mind.

Now it is up to all farmers to learn about their soil biological systems and use them to best advantage, including maximising carbon sequestration.

Mowing works to help keep lawns green & actively growing in the city. Grazing works better in the country. Methane is a natural part of a well balanced ecosystem. Not an excuse to bring in another tax on farmers. I guess that now everyone has got to 8th grade science level we will have to bring in a pollution tax on manure like in the US. Farmers should be paid a carbon credit for this stuff - not taxed. Have humans now evolved to live on fresh air? If people want to continue to eat they better start supporting farmers - not cutting government Ag support services and introducing new taxes. Farmers are already doing the right thing Gerhard - it is up to all city folk to stop playing games and remember where their food comes from.

All of us owe it to ourselves to get up to speed on soil carbon and potential sequestration.

Granted, it is a complicated issue for anyone without basic agronomic knowledge to get their head around, but I think we ignore this at our peril. One problem is that many commercial agronomy practitioners are trained in soil chemical systems as opposed to biological systems, as that is what our modern curriculum teaches.

That is not to say that one is better than the other, just that an understanding of both is required to apply this commercially.

If we are being advised by only one of them, then we are getting an incomplete picture. To my knowledge there are many farmers pursuing this vigorously as an additional source of cashflow for doing what they have already done anyway.

There are, as sickofit points out, a number of snake-oil salesman out there, who I wouldn't touch with a barge-pole. My advice is to seek out those who are doing it already and learn as much about it as possible before committing yourself to anything.

Why should farmers be paid to fix what the farmers stuffed?

Under the proposed plans, if the soil carbon has been lost due to years of farming, then the landholders is to get paid for. You raise the soil carbon to make your farm better and you want us to pay.

Hey, I did not paint my house for 20 years because I wanted to spend the money on booze and fun. Now the weatherboards are rotten, so can you come and pay for me to fix them as the house is unviable?

But if the past history of the government is anything to go by, the government will make the baseline 2012 or 2011 and so all your soil carbon will be forgone.

So the sad truth is you are better off running your farm into the ground, while you can, so you can come off a better base and make more money.

Anyhow, for those who think soil carbon will be in the game soon, think again. Soil carbon is reported but not accounted in the national accounts. To change that would mean years of international negotiations.

Unless it is included in the post-Kyoto treaty. it will not be in. And let's think about the past - what are the chances of getting a post-Kyoto treaty before 2012?bugger all.

This industry is full of carbon schemes. One I saw recently was money from Centerlink to do climate change adaption and it is nothing more than financial planning - I would love to sit down with a financial planner and discuss their modelling and how they have incoporated climate change impacts, changing rainfall patterns, infrastructure changes etc with the landholders.

I have seen many join this carbon industry in recent years all claiming to be experts. I would say 95pc have no idea of the science, the policy or the mechanics. Beware farmers - get indepentent advice if you can find it.

Great to see that somebody in Government is aware of the input farmers can have to the overall carbon problem. But my greatest concern is the perceived lack of rules in the measurement and trading of carbon and carbon credits.

Lot of talk in the media but nothing substantive. So far, I get the feeling that it is seen as another way to pick on farmers. By and large they have trouble answering back.

For instance, the fossil fuel industry seems to be getting lots of assistance, yet wouldn't it be wiser to be promoting solar instead of "clean" coal?

"Clean" coal has to be the greatest contradiction in terms I've ever heard. Sorry, just don't trust the various power brokers at this stage.

No matter what anyone does, it will make no difference. 'Anthropogenic global warming' is based on untruths. The planet is not warming. It is actually cooling.

The government does not have to wait for a replacement to the Kyoto Protocol to encourage farmers to invest in soil carbon. The government can start its own program to financially encourage farmers to increase soil carbon.