Carbon Sequestration & Sustainable Agriculture

While conventional agriculture tends to deplete the amount of organic matter in the soil, sustainable agriculture tends to build the amount of organic matter in the soil. Building up the amount of organic matter in the soil sequesters carbon and offsets the carbon released by industry.

On our farm, we have greatly increased the organic matter in the soil over the years by adding compost, planting cover crops, etc.. The soil now has noticeably more organic matter than it did when we bought the land.

Promoting sustainable ag practices looks like a good way to offset a lot of the carbon emitted by industry.

I would think that attacking the problem this way may not have the downsides to the economy that the opponents of the cap and trade bill seem to think will result from the cap and trade bill.

I've got a number of links on this topic below. The last link is to a Mother Earth News article about making biochar on a small scale to improve soil (and sequester carbon).

I have e-mailed information on this to the staff in my senators' offices. You may wish to do the same.

Hope you find this interesting!

Regards,

Mac

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"Farmers Poised to Offset One-Quarter of Global Fossil Fuel Emissions"

http://www.worldwatch.org/node/6124

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"Farms can sequester carbon and reduce emissions of methane and nitrous oxide in a variety of ways." ATTRA website, link below.

http://attra.ncat.org/farm_energy/carbon.html

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Making carbon crediting really work for farmers Rodale Institute

http://www.rodaleinstitute.org:80/20091119/gwr_soil_carbon_testing_institute_credits

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The link below has a poll in the left sidebar that reads (in part): :"recognize the role of small farms in food production and compensate them for carbon sequestration projects".

The International Biochar Initiative (IBI)

http://www.biochar-international.org/aboutbi....ws.html

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"The universe of the conference focus increased even as we met. Conference host Keith Paustian of Colorado State University opened the conference emphasizing that global soil organic matter (SOM) stocks are now estimated to contain 3 trillion tons of soil organic carbon.

This estimate just increased significantly in a recent publication in Global Biogeochemical Cycles where the authors reported that carbon stocks in peat soils are much larger than previously understood. That makes soil the largest actively cycling pool of carbon – more than quadruple the amount of carbon in vegetation and more triple that in the atmosphere.

In an era where rising concentrations of atmospheric carbon are threatening global climate function, ecosystem stability and agricultural productivity, the sheer size of the soil carbon pool makes it imperative that we learn more about the pool’s dynamics."



Soil carbon research insights show co-solutions Rodale Institute

http://www.rodaleinstitute.org/20090716/gw2

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Farming and Land Use to Cool the Planet:

"http://www.worldwatch.org/files/pdf/SOW09_chap3.pdf"

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The International Biochar Initiative (IBI)

http://www.biochar-international.org/aboutbi....ws.html


Worldwatch Report: Mitigating Climate Change Through Food and Land Use Worldwatch Institute

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Make Biochar — this Ancient Technique Will Improve Your Soil

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/Make-Biochar-To-Improve-Your-Soil.aspx


How to Make Charcoal (Biochar)

http://www.twinoaksforge.com/BLADSMITHING/MAKING%20CHARCOAL.htm

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From Rodale Institute:

"The Rodale Institute Farming Systems Trial® (FST), a long-term study comparing different farming systems, shows that we can gain about 1,000 pounds of carbon per acre per year with cover cropping and crop rotation under organic management. This is about twice the sustained carbon gain from standard no-till planting for corn or soybeans. FST shows insignificant amounts of carbon are deposited in our conventional tillage corn and soybean rotations with chemical fertilizer and pesticide inputs."

"Our long-term trials show that composting allows for much greater accumulation of carbon in soil, while compost also recycles needed nutrients to plants over time. Manure’s nutrients, in contrast, are more quickly released with relatively little residual carbon."

"The Amazon black soils show what’s possible. Whereas many plant residues persist in the soil for months or days and compost can last for years, charcoal‘s soil lifetime has been measured in many centuries."

http://newfarm.rodaleinstitute.org/columns/research_paul/2006/0106/charcoal.shtml