Grassland Management Holds Key to Carbon Capture, Gas Reductions
Author: Karen Briere | Published: February 16, 2017
Planting perennial forages and improving soil organic matter are good management practices for cattle producers but they also offer the added benefit of sequestering carbon, says a federal researcher.
Alan Iwaasa, grazing management scientist at the Agriculture Canada Research and Development Centre in Swift Current, Sask., said producers are looking for ways to reduce their carbon footprint in light of increasing em-phasis on climate change, carbon tax and greenhouse gas emission reduction.
“We have a wonderful opportunity here with our soils,” he told the Saskatchewan Beef Industry Conference.
Soils that are in poorer condition can still build organic matter. There are about 14 million acres in the brown soil zone across Western Canada; about 10 million acres are in Saskatchewan.
The province also has 5.5 million acres in the semi-arid brown soil zone, or very dry land.
“Even traditional crop lands that are in environmentally marginal areas do have potential that we could convert those to perennial forages,” Iwaasa said.
Natural grasslands have been depleted since modern agriculture began. Only about 28 million of the original 151 million acres remain, he said.
The potential to sequester carbon in grasslands could be a huge advantage for Saskatchewan producers looking to offset emissions.
“Uncultivated grasslands of Western Canada contain two to three billion tonnes of carbon to the depth of one metre,” he said.
The associated ecosystem benefits of increased water holding capacity, improved soil structure and quality, nutrient cycling and reduced soil erosion are all advantages to cattle producers.
“In many cases you’re doing that already because you want to in-crease your production, you want to have healthier pastures, you want to improve your biodiversity,” he said.
Ways to improve or enhance carbon sequestration include different grazing management practices.
These can help the physical break down and compaction of vegetation, increase decomposition and soil incorporation and therefore restore degraded soils, he said.
“The challenge though is that in a lot of cases grazing systems’ intensity and frequencies may impact carbon storage but the effects are often difficult to measure and often are inconsistent due to the environment.”
Drought, flood and weather all affect carbon storage.
“These treatments need to be utilized consistently and over a long time to actually see the benefits, not just three or four years but sometimes for decades,” he said.
A paper published in 2014 examined the impact of agriculture and loss of bison on grasslands from 1927 to 2007 and the potential to sequester carbon even on land disturbed years ago.