194 farmers from Western Canada and Ontario are receiving payments for temporarily removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.


The Saskatchewan Soil Conservation Association is administering the Environment Canada pilot project.


Executive Manager Blair McClinton says producers were allowed to sign up a maximum of 247 acres.


To be paid growers had to partake in practices such as zero till, direct seeding marginal soils to forages, or planting shelterbelts.


Farmers received $11.08 per tonne of c-o-2 stored.


The amount of carbon stored per year is dependent on the type of soil.


Farmers in the brown soil zone received a payment of $2.38 per acre, while those in the black soil zone received $5.43 per acre.


McClinton notes during the life of the project the equivalent 53,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide will be stored in ground as temporary emission removals.