Carbon sequestration payments in the European Union rose unexpectedly this past spring after the EU mistakenly issued too many permits in its efforts to combat climate change, according to a report in The Financial Times. The price rose after some EU member countries announced plans to cancel surplus permits, making the remaining permits more valuable, according to the report.

Prices rose to about $19 per metric ton (about 1.1 U.S. tons) being paid to no-tillers and others who sequester carbon for the market. A voluntary, limited carbon trading market in the United States currently pays less than $2 per ton to growers and others who sequester carbon in the U.S. pilot program aimed at reducing pollution. Program supporters say the payments are bound to rise as the market becomes more established.

Moves in that direction continue to be seen.

Through efforts by representatives of the University of Nebraska Extension Service and the Natural Resources Conservation Service, continuous no-tillers in many Nebraska counties can now sell carbon sequestration credits funneled through the Iowa Farm Bureau and sold on the Chicago Climate Exchange.

The Iowa Farm Bureau had initially coordinated carbon trading among no-tillers in that state who grouped their carbon credits to sell to power plants or other industries looking to offset their own carbon dioxide emissions. The Iowa Farm Bureau has been acting as an "aggregator," bringing together no-tillers with enough acreage to meet the large-scale carbon sequestration purchases by the mostly industrial buyers.

The bureau's effort has expanded to…