A new income source for farmers

In the future, farmers could "˜farm' carbon alongside their conventional commodities, according to Patrice Newell, the NSW Upper House candidate who is supported by the Climate Change Coalition, a newly formed group of Australian citizens concerned about climate change.

Soils have the capacity to take vast amounts of CO2 in the atmosphere and store it in the ground as carbon.

Climate Change Coalition says research is required to "˜baseline' different soils and demonstrate the various ''carbon farming techniques'' that Australian farmers are experimenting with to stimulate biological activity in the soil.

Farming for carbon requires aiming for 100% ground cover 100% of the time.

According to Climate Change Coalition, soils are the largest carbon sink over which we have control.

The Climate Change Coalition calls on the government to set up a taskforce to establish the base line of carbon in soils so it can be included in future carbon trading.