‘Carbon farming’ is used to restore overgrazed rangelands
Author: Madison Dapcevich
BILLINGS, Mont. — When it comes to farming, John Brown’s approach is more sustainable to crop diversification and better provides for carbon sequestration.
“As I was holding this handful of seeds, something shifted in me. I asked myself: why am I addicted to monoculture?” says John Brown, who has been farming since the 1970s. “It’s not just about what happens to corn and soybeans, but about what happens to our body when we only eat these crops? What happens to our culture and society when we only see these crops?”
Homegrown Prosperities, a carbon sequestration initiative led by the Northern Plains Resource Council, is underway. This grassroots conservation and family agriculture group organizes Montana citizens to protect water quality, family farms and ranches, and the state’s unique quality of life. This project aims to explore how soil health is the base of ecological, social and economic well-being, while connecting and supporting producers in the forefront.
“Agriculture, as it is turning out, is one of the best ways to draw out carbon from the atmosphere and put it back in the soil where it came from, and even enhance it,” Brown says.
The process of carbon sequestration, or “carbon farming,” is a technique that restores overgrazed rangelands into fertile fields by using photosynthesis to pull in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it in the soil, while releasing oxygen. This sequestration, coupled with crop diversification and green waste composting, is an innovative approach to no-till agriculture.