How carbon farming can help solve climate change

How carbon farming can help solve climate change
Farmers in Virginia check the outcome of their no-till farming practices. Credit: USDA, CC BY






Plowing breaks apart soil aggregates and allows microorganisms to eat the soil organic compounds. In the short-term, the increased microbial activity releases nutrients, boosting . In the long-term the loss of structure reduces the soil's ability to hold water and resist erosion. Ultimately, crop productivity drops.

How can we make soil organic matter?




The situation is a bit more complex in Eastern Canada. The region's soil type and climate make it less easy to build soil organic matter. At Dalhousie's Atlantic Soil Health Lab, we are exploring the potential of various cropping practices to increase soil organic matter content in the soils of Atlantic Canada. While the potential to store carbon may not be as great as in Western Canada, the benefits of increased soil are far greater because of the critically low levels of organic matter.



Using the right amount of fertilizer is also important. Fertilizers can improve plant growth, lead to larger roots and add more to the soil in the unharvested portion of the crop. However, too much nitrogen fertilizer can result in the production of the powerful nitrous oxide and offset the benefit of increased soil organic matter formation.

Farmers need economic incentives

Project Drawdown, a non-profit organization that researches solutions to , has estimated that global farmland restoration (building soil organic matter) could remove 14 gigatones (billion tonnes) of CO2.



The benefits of drawing down CO2 and building soil organic play out over decades. But the costs associated with these practices often do not have increased returns in the short-term.

Farmers often make decisions in response to short-term economic pressures and government policies. Improved management is a public good. We need economic tools and short-term incentives that encourage producers to adopt these practices for the good of all.

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Provided by The Conversation


Citation: How carbon farming can help solve climate change (2017, November 22) retrieved 21 July 2019 from https://phys.org/news/2017-11-carbon-farming-climatechange.html

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