Environmental scientists found that California grasslands are better at storing carbon from the atmosphere than fire-prone trees and forests, which have transitioned from carbon sinks (reserves) to carbon generators. Researchers said their discovery could help shape similar carbon offset programs around the world, particularly those in semi-arid environments, which cover about 40 percent of the planet.
The world-renowned Andre Leu gave a fascinating insight recently in his presentation on regenerative agriculture to a group of local farmers at Hallora. The Gazette’s Russell Bennett headed along to soak in as much as he could about, among a range of topics, where most farming starts – the soil.
Farmer-managed natural regeneration (FMNR) is the encouragement of regeneration and then the management of trees and shrubs that sprout from tree stumps, roots and seeds found in degraded soils, such as those currently in agricultural production. Trees and crops grown in combination like this is called agroforestry and provides multiple benefits to farmers, crops, climate, and wildlife.
Systematically grazing large herds of livestock for defined periods of time across the land creates the necessary conditions for grasses to grow again, Allan Savory argues. In turn, restored grasslands have the potential to sequester enough carbon to offset the greenhouse gas emissions from the animals—and perhaps more. Savory’s theory flies in the face of the contemporary understanding of overgrazing, ecological restoration of grasslands, and climate change.
India is the largest producer of cotton and the crop is of significant importance to the economy. Closely woven into the cotton story is the fate of over 6 million small and marginal farmers who plant this crop annually. However, today, India has reached a point of inflection. The so-called successes of past decades heralded by the hasty adoption of transgenic Bt technology are being eclipsed by the recurrence of pest attacks, worsened by unsustainable land and water use.
Investing in sustainable land management and practices such as restoring degraded land can recover soil health and enhance soil functions and land productivity to provide critical ecological and economic benefits for human needs. We suggest investing in critical linkages that are closely linked to several problems.
In an effort to reverse the trend of leaving the Outback and help repair the landscape, the Western Australian government in April began allowing a new line of business—carbon farming—on lands once reserved for grazing.
Soil biodiversity and soil organic carbon are an important foundation of a broad range of ecosystem services across all four standard ecosystem service categories. Governments should aim at protecting and promoting the multi-functionality of land to ensure that land users employ sustainable approaches that are measured against the delivery of multiple goods and services.
Climate change will increase the risk of simultaneous crop failures across the world’s biggest corn-growing regions and lead to less of the nutritionally critical vegetables that health experts say people aren’t getting enough of already, scientists warn.
Recently, more than 40 farmers and ranchers from across the Midwest – Iowa, Indiana to Kansas, traveled to this century farm to learn about the regenerative practices Scott and Barb Gonnerman have implemented to ensure their land carries on for the next 100 years and more.