As is often the case with fledgling markets, the future for carbon credits could go either way. In fact, it could go a lot of different ways.

Right now a number of companies are getting into the market, in part because large corporations are looking for a way to say they are carbon-friendly. They are buying credits to offset the carbon they are still using or generating, much like corporations have built factories or computer centers in areas where wind or solar energy is generated.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Research on climate change is nothing new at the University of Illinois. However, developments this year have the attention of both Midwest farmers and international climate change experts.

This summer and fall, bread-box-sized robots developed here are ready to plant 10,000 acres of cover crops on farmers’ fields.

OSCO, Ill. — Many farmers state their motivation to use sustainable practices as a way to “leave the land better than they found it,” without naming climate change.

On Gary Asay’s farm, a windbreak of evergreen trees is adjacent to a field of green, ankle- height cereal rye this time of year, not far from the hog barns and solar panels. Together they tell the story of the Henry County, Illinois, farm without Asay having to say many words.

Betsy Rowland had been planning to incorporate strip-tilling and cover crops on her farm for years, but a program that paid her to do it made that decision a no-brainer.

“It worked out perfectly for us,” said Rowland, who farms near Princeton in Bureau County, Illinois. “We had not done that much before, but we had been moving that way.”

The most recent international report calling for urgency in fighting climate change was released April 4, and farmers, commodity groups and university researchers continue to evaluate what they have accomplished and what needs to be done to stem the worst effects on agriculture.

Among those looking at what action might be taken to address the shifting climate is Krystal Noiseux, associate director of MIT’s Climate Pathways Project.

As carbon pipeline projects continue to be debated, the use of eminent domain has become a major issue across Iowa.

Summit Carbon Solutions, Navigator CO2 Ventures and Wolf Carbon Solutions/ADM each have announced proposals to build underground pipelines that would carry CO2 from ethanol plants in Iowa to sequestration sites in North Dakota and Illinois.