Rancher Terry Ulrich believes he's doing his part to protect the planet from global warming, and making money by doing it.

Ulrich, who lives near Ashley, in south central North Dakota, is one of about 630 farmers and ranchers who are getting checks this week from the North Dakota Farmers Union for keeping carbon dioxide in the ground. They use no-till farming practices or grow grasses to limit its release.

The Jamestown-based state Farmers Union on Monday announced $2 million in payments to North Dakota farmers and ranchers who enrolled acreage in the program, which began last year.

Ulrich said he expects to be paid about $6,000 for the carbon dioxide stored on his 2,000 acres.

"It's not a lot, but it's enough to pay off a big chunk of my property taxes - and it benefits the land," he said.

The program pools carbon credits for sale on the Chicago Climate Exchange, a private agency that trades greenhouse gases and other pollutants just as other exchanges trade such commodities as crops and livestock.

Dale Enerson, the director of the carbon credit program for the North Dakota group as well as the National Farmers Union, said it has been expanded to 330,000 acres in 14 other states in the past year, with more than 600 farmers from those states signing up.

No dividends have been paid to out-of-state farmers and ranchers, Enerson said.

About $500,000 in carbon credits is traded daily on the Chicago Climate Exchange, representing some 125,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide, said Michael Walsh, the trading system's senior vice president.

"A half-million bucks a day is not the Board of Trade, but it's a start," Walsh said. "We're doing 100 times that a day in Europe."

North Dakota Farmers Union President Robert Carlson said about 650,000 tons of carbon dioxide was sequestered under the state program last year - about the equivalent of the carbon emissions from more than 130,000 cars.

The carbon dioxide was sold in blocks earlier this year and fetched an average of about $3.70 cents a metric ton, Carlson said.

No-till farming is being used on about 8 million of the 30 million acres of cropland in North Dakota, Enerson said. About 830,000 acres are enrolled under the state carbon credit program, Carlson said.

"That's only 10 percent of what's potentially available in North Dakota, so we're only scratching the surface," Carlson said.

Gov. John Hoeven called the carbon credit program "timely and innovative."

"This is the kind of innovation that helps our farmers and ranchers," Hoeven said.

State Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson said the average payment of about $3,000 for each farmer under the program was "real money."

"It may not be enough to save a farm, but it may be enough to put a down payment on a new piece of equipment," Johnson said.

Walsh said the Chicago Climate Exchange has about 300 member organizations that have voluntarily agreed to reduce their carbon emissions. The members consist of corporations, cities and a few universities, which can buy carbon credits to help balance out their emissions, he said.

"This is a win-win solution to mitigating greenhouse gases," Walsh said

At present, Walsh said, "It's easier to get sellers than on the buyers' side" in the United States.

Carbon dioxide credits are fetching about $30 a metric ton in Europe, where countries have agreed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. The United States has refused to ratify the treaty limiting emissions and does not have a mandatory carbon dioxide emission cap.

Walsh, state officials and farmers believe the value of carbon credits in the United States will increase in time.

"The value of carbon is going to go up," said Johnson, the state's agriculture commissioner. "This is exactly the kind of future we should be envisioning and going after."

Jon Hanson, a scientist at the Northern Great Plains Research Laboratory in Mandan, said no-till farming is good for the land, and the carbon credit program likely will encourage farmers to stop tilling their land.

"It's paying farmers to do the right thing … farmers who feed the soil are also feeding their checkbooks," he said.

Jim Hopfauf, who ranches and farms near Flasher, in Morton County, believes capturing carbon in the soil increases organic matter and produces better crops.

Hopfauf said the carbon credit program finally rewards farmers who limit soil disturbance. He expects a check of about $600 for the 103 acres he enrolled in the program last year.

"It's not much, but it's a little extra income for the ranch," Hopfauf said.