ohn Nergenah is a fourth generation farmer in Morgan County. He and his father have been working with Locus Agricultural Solutions' CarbonNow program for eight years. “We are 100% no-till and we use cover crops on every acre every year,” Nergenah said. “Carbon markets were an additional thing that fit into what we were already doing.” The CarbonNow program pays the Nergenahs $9 per acre for using best practices. When the company returns to take soil samples, Nergenah will receive an additional $3 per acre. There is potential for bonus dollars if carbon sequestration results are better than expected. Locus Ag converts data from all farms in the program into carbon sequestration credits that are sold to some of the largest corporations in the world. Corporations buy credits to offset the amount of carbon dioxide they produce in the course of doing business. Carbon credits are essentially "permits" that allow corporations to emit carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Because part of the Nergenahs land is sloping, they have always had problems with erosion. Thirty years ago, Nergenah's father started experimenting with soybeans, but planting them was more difficult. His father was shocked when John let the cover crop grow waist-high and when John planted corn directly into the cover crop.