More farmers and landowners are involved in discussions of carbon capture utilization and storage on farmland than in leasing land for solar panels, said a Purdue University survey on Tuesday. “Interest on the part of companies desiring to use farmland for either sequestering carbon or solar energy production appears to be rising,” said the monthly Ag Economy Barometer.
Some 18 percent of respondents said they or their landlords have been approached about possible carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) on farmland. By contrast, 12 percent said they engaged in discussions in the past six months about leasing land for a solar energy project.
CCUS is a process that captures carbon dioxide emissions from industrial users, such as power plants, for re-use or transport for injection deep underground in geological formations such as depleted oil and gas reservoirs or saline aquifers.
The United States is a global leader in CCUS, with 5,000 miles of pipelines and 13 commercial-scale projects that store 20 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually, an Energy Department official told senators last November. Senate Energy Committee chairman Joe Manchin of West Virginia said there were 169 applications on file for permits to inject carbon dioxide underground.
Farmer sentiment improved modestly in March, partly due to expectations of lower interest rates, to lift the barometer to a reading of 114, up three points from its previous reading, and on par with the rolling 12-month average.
For the Ag Barometer, Purdue interviews operators with production worth at least $500,000 a year. According to USDA data, 7.4 percent of U.S. farms have annual sales of $500,000 or more. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percent. The latest survey was conducted from March 11-15.
The Ag Economy Barometer was available here.