A new focus on the impact of farming on climate change could both curb carbon emissions and prod efforts to boost yields and rural incomes in developing countries, delegates told a U.N. climate conference. But curbing greenhouse gases from farms also means confronting complex tradeoffs, especially to try and feed an extra 3 billion people by 2050 while encroaching less on forests, burning of which stokes carbon emissions. In addition, new incentives to curb greenhouse gases from farms such as carbon offsetting under discussion in the United States, in the U.N. talks and at the World Bank may be inappropriate and must favour smallholders, say campaigners. "Agriculture is now mentioned," said Gerald Nelson at the International Food Policy Research Institute. "That's a good sign but it's still very limited," said Nelson, referring to draft texts for a new treaty, which refer to high-carbon, organic soils as a possible store of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.

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