Tag Archive for: Healthy Soil

Soil Fungi Act like a Support Network for Trees, Study Shows

Being highly connected to a strong social network has its benefits. Now a new University of Alberta study is showing the same goes for trees, thanks to their underground neighbours.

The study, published in the Journal of Ecology, is the first to show that the growth of adult trees is linked to their participation in fungal networks living in the forest soil.

Though past research has focused on seedlings, these findings give new insight into the value of fungal networks to older trees–which are more environmentally beneficial for functions like capturing carbon and stabilizing soil erosion.

“Large trees make up the bulk of the forest, so they drive what the forest is doing,” said researcher Joseph Birch, who led the study for his PhD thesis in the Faculty of Agricultural, Life & Environmental Sciences.

When they colonize the roots of a tree, fungal networks act as a sort of highway, allowing water, nutrients and even the compounds that send defence signals against insect attacks to flow back and forth among the trees.

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Cattle Might Be Secret Weapon in Fight Against Wildfires, Experts Say. Here’s How

Evidence shows that wildfires have become more widespread and severe over the years, with the ongoing West Coast blazes bearing testament to the worrying trend.

Firefighters and farmers have tricks of their own to prevent fires from sparking and to contain them enough for successful defeat. But there might be a secret weapon that hasn’t been getting the attention it deserves.

Cattle.

Researchers with the University of California Cooperative Extension set out to evaluate how much fine fuel — grasses and other plants known to start fires — cattle eat and how their feeding behavior affects flame activity.

The team concluded that without cattle grazing, there would be “hundreds to thousands” of additional pounds of fine fuels per acre of land, which could lead to “larger and more severe fires.”

The team’s study results have yet to be published, but they offered their preliminary findings in a blog post published Aug. 31.

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Organizaciones regenerativas continuarán con los eventos agendados en torno a la COP25 en Chile, y también enviarán delegaciones a Madrid

Regeneration International, Savory Institute, Organic Consumers Association y muchas otras organizaciones comprometidas a apoyar el movimiento regenerativo en América Latina

Contacto:

América Latina: Ercilia Sahores, ercilia@regenerationinternational.org, +52 (55) 6257 7901

Estados Unidos: Katherine Paul, katherine@regenerationinternational.org; 207-653-3090

SANTIAGO, Chile – 7 de noviembre de 2019 – En una demostración clara de solidaridad con el creciente movimiento regenerativo en Chile y en América Latina, Regeneration International anunció que llevará a cabo la asamblea anual de la red y participará de otras instancias claves y estratégicas sobre el clima y la agricultura en Chile y regiones, a pesar de la decisión del gobierno de Chile de no ser anfitrión de la Conferencia climática COP25.

Regeneration International y aliados claves también enviarán delegaciones a la COP25 oficial, que ahora tendrá lugar en Madrid. 

“Este es un momento histórico de profundo simbolismo para Chile,” afirmó Ercilia Sahores, Directora para América Latina de Regeneration International. “Nuestra decisión de continuar con las reuniones que hemos organizado durante meses junto con otras organizaciones de la sociedad civil, refleja nuestro compromiso de asegurar que las voces ciudadanas, no solo las institucionales, puedan unir fuerzas y tener una plataforma en la COP25. Creemos que el Movimiento Regenerativo ofrece una esperanza que se traduce en soluciones políticas, ambientales y socio-económicas prácticas ante la crisis sistémica que se está viviendo en este momento en Chile y otras partes del mundo.”

“Regeneration International está inspirado y con nuevas fuerzas por el surgimiento de resistencia de base y por la regeneración que se está contagiando en todo el planeta, declaró Ronnie Cummins, co-fundador y miembro de la junta de Regeneration International.” Los levantamientos que hemos visto en Chile, Hong Kong, Moscú, el Líbano y otras naciones y el rápido crecimiento de Extinction Rebellion en Europa y el movimiento Sunrise en Estados Unidos, son claros llamados para que el sistema cambie como condición clave para enfrentar la crisis climática y la crisis social, política y económica que están claramente relacionadas. Desde Regeneration International y en conjunto con organizaciones aliadas estamos esperando con ansias ir a Santiago en diciembre para, junto con nuestros colegas en América Latina y Chile, construir un movimiento fuerte a través de América y lograr un Nuevo Acuerdo Verde transcontinental con un fuerte foco en la reforestación, la agricultura y la alimentación regenerativa, así como la restauración de ecosistemas..” 

“La hora esperada ha llegado, luego de años de practicar y capacitarnos activamente en la regeneración eco-social en nuestras manos, mentes y corazones,” compartió Javiera Carrión, co-fundadora de El Manzano Permacultura, organización afiliada a Regeneration International. “El contexto ha cambiado de una manera rápida y violenta en Chile, y lo mismo está ocurriendo en otras partes del mundo“. Estos son tiempos interesantes y de gran incertidumbre. Es también el momento adecuado para que el Movimiento Regenerativo se reúna y vuelva a pensar su estrategia. Tenemos mucho trabajo por hacer y estamos muy agradecidos del apoyo de Regeneration International en este momento crítico.”

” En Savory nos llena de entusiasmo unir fuerzas con Regeneration International para esta COP25,  tanto en Chile como en España” señaló Daniela Howell, CEO del Savory Institute,” Los líderes de nuestros Hubs en Sudamérica y en Europa se unirán para expresar el apoyo y el compromiso hacia el movimiento regenerativo en esta región y de manera global. Queremos participar como un frente unido en sesiones claves para apoyar la promoción de la agricultura orgánica y la iniciativa global  4×1000, compartiendo también tiempo para inspirarnos, conectarnos y generar amistades.”

Regeneration International llevará a cabo su Asamblea General en Santiago el 9 y 10 de diciembre.

Regeneration International es una organización sin fines de lucro 501 (c) (3) dedicada a promover, facilitar y acelerar la transición global a la alimentación, la agricultura y la gestión de la tierra regenerativas con el propósito de restaurar la estabilidad climática, poner fin al hambre en el mundo y reconstruir los sistemas sociales, ecológicos y económicos deteriorados. Visite https://regenerationinternational.org/.

We Could Have Less than 60 Years of Farming Left — Unless We Support This Growing Movement

Sixty years. That’s how long U.N. officials said we have until all the world’s topsoil degrades to the point that it’s no longer useful for farming (and this was back in 2014, so it’s more like 55 years now).

Massive farms—the kinds that lean on chemical pesticides, large tilling machines, and other growing techniques that strip the ground of nutrients—are one of the biggest threats to our soil. As the global population rises, more hungry mouths to feed will likely mean more of these environmentally damaging growing practices. 

On the other end of the spectrum, you’ll find regenerative farming that actually mimics nature to restore soil health by pumping nutrients back into the ground. (You can learn more on how it works here.)

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Regenerative Agriculture: A Better Way to Farm?

Twelve years ago, Ryan Boyd faced a wreck that changed the way he farms today.

“I had big plans,” said Boyd, who farms with his wife and parents north of Brandon, Man. “We had a nice crop coming, and then the weather went against us and the markets dropped.

“The long and short of it was we had a bad year, and I figured we needed to make some changes if I was going to carve a living out on the farm.”

Photo credit: Unsplash

For Boyd, that meant shifting some of the practices on their 2,000-acre mixed farm to be more sustainable.

“We’re trying to practise what we would call regenerative agriculture — trying to build a profitable, resilient system that’s maintaining a good level of production while reducing the amount of inputs we’re relying on,” Boyd said while hosting a group of visiting farm journalists last month.

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Look after the Soil, save the Earth: Farming in Australia’s Unrelenting Climate

From the red soil of his hometown in the Western Australian outback town of Wiluna, Michael Jeffery very nearly became a farmer.

He opted for being a soldier instead, serving in Malaya, Borneo and Vietnam, where he was awarded the Military Cross and the South Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry. After a distinguished military career, he served as governor of his home state of Western Australia and governor general of Australia – who represents the Queen, Australia’s head of state.

Photo credit: Unsplash

So he doesn’t enter public debate lightly. But he is highly exercised by his latest topic: restoring Australia’s ancient soils.

It was a world first when he was appointed by Julia Gillard’s Labor government as the first national soil advocate in 2012 and his term was extended under the former National party leader and agriculture minister, Barnaby Joyce.

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Healthy Soils for a Healthy Life — Increasing Soil Organic Matter Through Organic Agriculture

This year has been declared the International Year of Soils by the 68th UN General Assembly with the theme “Healthy Soils for a Healthy Life.” I am particularly pleased with the theme because this is a message that we in the organic sector have been spreading for more than 70 years, and at first we were ridiculed. Now there is a huge body of science showing that what we observed in our farming systems is indeed correct.

“Organic farming” became the dominant name in English-speaking countries for farming systems that eschew toxic, synthetic pesticides and fertilizers through J.I. Rodale’s global magazine Organic Farming and Gardening, first published in the United States in the 1940s. Rodale promoted this term based on building soil health by the recycling of organic matter through composts, green manures, mulches and cover crops to increase the levels of soil organic matter (SOM) as one of the primary management techniques.

Photo credit: Pexels

Numerous scientific studies show that SOM provides many benefits for building soil health such as improving the number and biodiversity of beneficial microorganisms that provide nutrients for plants, including fixing nitrogen, as well as controlling soilborne plant diseases. The decomposition of plant and animal residues into SOM can provide all the nutrients needed by plants and negate the need for synthetic chemical fertilizers, especially nitrogen fertilizers that are responsible for numerous environmental problems.

SOM improves soil structure so that it is more resistant to erosion and is easier to till, resulting in lower energy use and less greenhouse gas output. Soils with good SOM levels are more efficient at absorbing rainwater and storing it for plants to use in dry periods. Studies show that organic systems get around 30 percent higher yields in periods of drought than conventional systems due to the increase of SOM and its ability to capture and store water for crops.

SOM is composed largely of carbon that is captured as CO2 from the air by plants through photosynthesis. Published, peer-reviewed meta-studies show that organic farming systems are superior to conventional systems in capturing CO2 from the atmosphere (the primary greenhouse gas responsible for climate change) and sequestering it into the ground as SOM.

SOM & CLIMATE CHANGE

Worldwide, agriculture is responsible for between 11 and 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, depending on the boundaries and methodologies used to determine its emissions. According to the United Nations Environment Programme, the estimates of global greenhouse gas emissions in 2010 were 50.1 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent (Gt CO2e) per year. To keep global mean temperature increases below 2°C compared to preindustrial levels, GHG emissions will have to be reduced to a median level of 44 Gt CO2e in 2020.

This means that the world will have to reduce the current level of emissions by 6.1 Gt CO2e by 2020 and reduce it every subsequent year. According to the latest World Meteorological Organization figures, the levels of GHG pollution in the atmosphere and the oceans are the highest in history and are still increasing.

Keeping the rise in temperature below 2°C will not only involve reducing emissions through energy efficiency, renewable energy and cleaner energy sources; sequestering GHGs already present in the atmosphere will also be necessary to reduce the current levels. Currently most sequestration is based on growing biomass as carbon sinks and capturing it as wood-based products.

Soils are the greatest carbon sink after the oceans. According to Professor Rattan Lal of Ohio State University, there are over 2,700 Gt of carbon stored in soils worldwide. This is considerably more than the combined total of 780 Gt in the atmosphere and the 575 Gt in biomass.

The amount of CO2 in the oceans is already causing problems, particularly for species with calcium exoskeletons such as coral. Scientists are concerned that the increase in acidity caused by higher levels of CO2 is damaging these species and threatens the future of marine ecosystems such as the Great Barrier Reef.

MITIGATION THROUGH ABOVEGROUND BIOMASS

Currently the major push for carbon sequestration is through above-ground biomass, despite that fact that its potential as a carbon sink is significantly less than that of soil. The other issue is the need to take land out of food production to grow trees. There is some potential with agroforestry and trees as shade cover for some cash crops like coffee and cacao, however this will deliver considerably less than research has shown can be sequestered into soils with good agricultural practices.

SEQUESTRATION THROUGH AGRICULTURE

The ability of soils to absorb enough CO2 in order to stabilize current atmospheric CO2levels is a critical issue, and there is a major debate over whether this can be achieved through farming practices. Reviews of conventional farming systems have found that most are losing soil carbon and at best they can only slow the rate of loss. On the other hand, farming systems that recycle organic matter and use crop rotations can increase the levels of soil organic carbon (SOC).

A preliminary study by the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture, Switzerland, published by FAO, collated 45 comparison trials between organic and conventional systems that included 280 data sets. These studies included data from grasslands, arable crops and permanent crops in several continents. A simple analysis of the data shows that on average the organic systems had higher levels of soil carbon sequestration.

Dr. Andreas Gattinger and colleagues wrote, “In soils under organic management, the SOC stocks averaged 37.4 tons C ha-1, in comparison to 26.7 tons C ha-1 under non-organic management.”

This means that the average difference between the two management systems (organic and conventional) was 10.7 tons of C. Using the accepted formula that SOC x 3.67 = CO2, this means an average of more than 39.269 tons of CO2 was sequestered in the organic system than in the conventional system.

The average duration of management of all included studies was 16.7 years. This means that an average of 2,351 kg of CO2 was sequestered per hectare every year in the organic systems compared to the conventional systems.

In a later peer-reviewed meta-analysis, published in PNAS, that used 41 comparison trials and removed the outliers in the data sets in order not to overestimate the data and to obtain a conservative estimate, researchers reported that organic systems sequestered 550 kg C per hectare per year. This equates to 2018.5 kg CO2 per hectare per year.

Based on these figures, the widespread adoption of current organic practices has the potential to sequester around 10 Gt of CO2, which is the range of the emissions gap in 2020 of 8-12 Gt CO2e per year.

Amount of Organic Nitrogen Held in the Soil

1% SOC      2,400 kg of organic N per hectare      1.72% SOM

2% SOC      4,800 kg of organic N per hectare      3.44% SOM

3% SOC      7,200 kg of organic N per hectare      5.16% SOM

4% SOC      9,600 kg of organic N per hectare      6.88% SOM

5% SOC      12,000 kg of organic N per hectare    8.50% SOM

The potential exists for higher levels of CO2 sequestration. All data sets that use averaging have outlying data. These are examples that are significantly higher or significantly lower than the average.

There are several examples of higher levels of carbon sequestration than the averages quoted in the studies above. The Rodale Institute in Pennsylvania has been conducting long-running comparisons of organic and conventional cropping systems for more than 30 years that confirm organic methods are effective at removing CO2 from the atmosphere and fixing it as organic matter in the soil. Tim LaSalle and Paul Hepperly wrote, “In the FST (Rodale Institute farm systems trial) organic plots, carbon was sequestered into the soil at the rate of 875 lbs/ac/year in a crop rotation utilizing raw manure, and at a rate of about 500 lbs/ac/year in a rotation using legume cover crops.

During the 1990s, results from the Compost Utilization Trial (CUT) at Rodale Institute — a 10-year study comparing the use of composts, manures and synthetic chemical fertilizer — show that the use of composted manure with crop rotations in organic systems can result in carbon sequestration of up to 2,000 lbs/ac/year. By contrast, fields under standard tillage relying on chemical fertilizers lost almost 300 pounds of carbon per acre per year.”

Converting these figures into kilograms of CO2 sequestered per hectare using the accepted conversion rate of 1 pound per acre = 1.12085116 kg/ ha and SOC x 3.67= CO2, gives the following results: The FST legume-based organic plots showed that carbon was sequestered into the soil at the rate of about 500 lbs/ac/year. This is equivalent to a sequestration rate of 2,055.2kg of CO2/ha/yr, which is close to the average found in the Gattinger meta-study.

However, other organic systems produced much higher rates of sequestration. The FST manured organic plots showed that carbon was sequestered into the soil at the rate of 875 lbs/ac/year. This is equivalent to a sequestration rate of 3,596.6 kg of CO2/ha/year and if extrapolated globally would sequester 17.5 Gt of CO2.

The CUT showed that carbon was sequestered into the soil at the rate of 2,000 lbs/ac/year. This is equivalent to a sequestration rate of 8,220.8 kg of CO2/ha/year and if extrapolated globally, would sequester 40 Gt of CO2.

A meta-analysis by Eduardo Aguilera et al. published in the peer-reviewed journal, Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, of 24 comparison trials in Mediterranean climates between organic systems and non-organic systems without organic supplements found that the organic systems sequestered 970 kg of C/ha/year more than the non-organic systems. This equates to 3559.9 kg of CO2/ha/year. The data came from comparison trials from Mediterranean climates in Europe, the United States and Australia, and if extrapolated globally, would sequester 17.4 Gt of CO2.

The Louis Bolk Institute conducted a study to calculate soil carbon sequestration at SEKEM, the oldest organic farm in Egypt. Their results show that on average SEKEM’s management practices resulted in 900 kg of carbon being stored in the soil per hectare per year in the fields that were 30 years old. Using the accepted formula of SOC x 3.67 = CO2, this means that SEKEM has sequestered 3,303 kg of CO2 per hectare per year for 30 years.

Based on these figures, the adoption of SEKEM’s practices globally has the potential to sequester 16 Gt of CO2, which is around 30 percent of the world’s current GHG emission into soils.

It is not the intention of this paper to use the above types of generic exercises of globally extrapolating data as scientific proof of what can be achieved by scaling up organic systems. These types of very simple analyses are useful for providing a conceptual idea of the considerable potential of organic farming to reduce GHG emissions on a landscape scale. The critical issue here is that urgent peer-reviewed research is needed to understand how and why — and for the skeptics, if — these systems sequester significant levels of CO2 and then look at how to apply the findings for scaling up on a global level in order to achieve GHG mitigation.

GREATER RESILIENCE IN ADVERSE CONDITIONS

According to research by the UNFCCC IPCC Fourth Assessment Report (IPCC 2007) and others, the world is seeing increases in the frequency of extreme weather events such as droughts and heavy rainfall. Even if the world stopped polluting the planet with greenhouse gases tomorrow, it would take many decades to reverse climate change. This means that farmers have to adapt to the increasing intensity and frequency of adverse and extreme weather events.

Published studies show that organic farming systems are more resilient to predicted weather extremes and can produce higher yields than conventional farming systems in such conditions. For instance, the Wisconsin Integrated Cropping Systems Trials found that organic yields were higher in drought years and the same as conventional in normal weather years.

IMPROVED EFFICIENCY OF WATER USE

Research shows that organic systems use water more efficiently due to better soil structure and higher levels of humus and other organic matter compounds. D.W. Lotter and colleagues collected data over 10 years during the Rodale Farm Systems Trial. Their research showed that the organic manure system and organic legume system (LEG) treatments improve the soils’ water-holding capacity, infiltration rate and water capture efficiency. The LEG maize soils averaged 13 percent higher water content than conventional system (CNV) soils at the same crop stage and 7 percent higher than CNV soils in soybean plots. The more porous structure of organically treated soil allows rainwater to quickly penetrate the soil, resulting in less water loss from runoff and higher levels of water capture. This was particularly evident during the two days of torrential downpours from hurricane Floyd in September 1999, when the organic systems captured around double the water as the conventional systems.

Long-term scientific trials conducted by the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture in Switzerland comparing organic, biodynamic and conventional systems had similar results showing that organic systems were more resistant to erosion and better at capturing water.

“We compare the long-term effects (since 1948) of organic and conventional farming on selected properties of the same soil. The organically farmed soil had significantly higher organic matter content, thicker topsoil depth, higher polysaccharide content, lower modulus of rupture and less soil erosion than the conventionally farmed soil. This study indicates that, in the long term, the organic farming system was more effective than the conventional farming system in reducing soil erosion and, therefore, in maintaining soil productivity (Reganold et al. 1987).”

Humus, a key component of SOM, allows for the ability of organic soils to be more stable and to hold more water. This is due to its ability to hold up to 30 times its own weight in water, and being a ‘sticky’ polymer, glues the soil particles together, giving greater resistance to water and wind erosion.

There is a strong relationship between SOM levels and the amount of water that can be stored in the root zone. The table below should be taken as a rule of thumb, rather than as a precise set of measurements. Different soil types will hold different volumes of water when they have the same levels of organic matter due to pore spaces, specific soil density and a range of other variables. Sandy soils generally hold less water than clay soils.

The table above gives an understanding of the potential amount of water that can be captured from rain and stored at the root zone in relation to the percentage of SOM.

There is a large difference in the amount of rainfall that can be captured and stored between the current SOM level in most traditional farms in Asia and Africa and a good organic farm with reasonable SOM levels. This is one of the reasons why organic farms do better in times of low rainfall and drought.

The Rodale Farming Systems Trial showed that the organic systems produced more corn than the conventional system in drought years. The average corn yields during the drought years were 28 to 34 percent higher in the two organic systems. The yields were 6,938 and 7,235 kg per ha in the organic animal and organic legume systems, respectively, compared with 5,333 kg per ha in the conventional system. The researchers attributed the higher yields in the dry years to the ability of the soils on organic farms to better absorb rainfall. This is due to the higher levels of organic carbon in those soils, which makes them more friable and better able to capture and store rainwater which can then be used for crops.

This is very significant information as the majority of the world’s farming systems are rain-fed. The world does not have the resources to irrigate all of the agricultural lands, nor should such a project be undertaken. Improving the efficiency of rain-fed agricultural systems through organic practices is the most efficient, cost-effective, environmentally sustainable and practical solution to ensure reliable food production in the face of increasing weather extremes.

SYNTHETIC NITROGEN FERTILIZERS

One of the main reasons for the differences in soil carbon between organic and conventional systems is that synthetic nitrogen fertilizers degrade soil carbon. Research shows a direct link between the application of synthetic nitrogenous fertilizers and decline in soil carbon.

Volume of Water Retained/ha (to 30 cm) in Relation to Soil Organic Matter (SOM)

0.5% SOM = 80,000 liters

1% SOM = 160,000 liters (common farm level in much of Africa, Asia and parts of Latin America)

2% SOM = 320,000 liters

3% SOM = 480,000 liters

4% SOM = 640,000 liters

5% SOM = 800,000 liters (pre-settlement/farming levels in many countries)

6% SOM = 960,000 liters

This table gives an understanding of the potential amount of water that can be captured from rain and stored at the root zone in relation to the percentage of SOM.

Scientists from the University of Illinois analyzed the results of a 50-year agricultural trial and found that synthetic nitrogen fertilizer resulted in all the carbon residues from the crop disappearing as well as an average loss of around 10,000 kg of carbon per hectare per year. This is around 36,700 kg of CO2 per hectare on top of the many thousands of kilograms of crop residue that is converted into CO2 every year.

Researchers found that the higher the application of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer the greater the amount of soil carbon lost as CO2. This is one of the major reasons why most conventional agricultural systems have a decline in soil carbon while most organic systems increase soil carbon.

PLANT-AVAILABLE NITROGEN LEVELS

One of the main concerns about organic agriculture is how to get sufficient plant-available nitrogen without using synthetic nitrogen fertilizers such as urea.

SOM, particularly the humus fractions, tend to have a carbon nitrogen ratio of 9:1 to 11:1. As the carbon levels increase, the amount of soil nitrogen increases in order to maintain the carbon-nitrogen ratios. Adding organic matter into the soil to increase carbon, results in the nitrogen levels increasing.

Much of this soil nitrogen is fixed by free-living soil microorganisms such as azobacters and cyanobacterias. The use of DNA sequencing is revealing that cohorts of numerous thousands of species of free-living microorganisms are involved in fixing nitrogen from the air into plant available forms. There are many studies that show that there is a strong relationship between higher levels of SOM and higher levels of soil biological activity.

This biological activity includes free-living nitrogen-fixers, and they turn the atmospheric nitrogen, the gas that makes up 78 percent of the air, into the forms that are needed by plants. They do this at no cost and are a major source of plant-available nitrogen that is continuously overlooked in most agronomy texts.

New research has found a new group of nitrogen-fixing organisms called endophytic microorganisms. These microbes can colonize the roots of numerous plant species including rice, grain crops and sugar cane.

SOIL CARBON, NITROGEN RATIOS

It is important to get an understanding of the potential for how much nitrogen can be stored in SOM for the crop to use. SOM contains nitrogen expressed in a Carbon to Nitrogen Ratio. This is usually in ratios from 11:1 to 9:1; however, there can be further variations. The only way to firmly establish the ratio for any soil is to do a soil test and measure the amounts.

For the sake of explaining the amount of organic nitrogen in the soil we will use a ratio of 10:1 to make the calculations easier.

The amount of carbon in SOM is expressed as SOC and is usually measured as the number of grams Formulated of carbon per kilogram of soil. Most texts will express this as a percentage of the soil to a certain depth. There is an accepted approximation ratio for the amount of soil organic carbon in soil organic matter: SOC × 1.72 = SOM.

The issue of working out the amount of SOC as a percentage of the soil by weight is complex as the specific density of the soil has to be factored in because some types of soils are denser and therefore heavier than other soils. This will change the weight of carbon as a percentage of the soil.

To make these concepts readily understandable we will use an average estimation developed by Dr. Christine Jones, one of Australia’s leading soil scientists and soil carbon specialists. According to Dr. Jones: “… a 1 percent increase in organic carbon in the top 20 cm of soil represents a 24 t/ha (24,000 kg) increase in SOC …”

This means that a soil with 1 percent SOC would contain 24,000 kg of carbon per hectare. With a 10:1 carbon to nitrogen ratio this soil would contain 2,400 kg of organic nitrogen per hectare in the top 20 centimeters, the primary root zone.

The conventional dogma around nitrogen is that it can only be used by plants if it is in the form of nitrate or ammonium and that organic nitrogen is mostly not available to the crop until it has been converted into these two forms of N.

There are hundreds of peer-reviewed scientific studies that show that this assumption is incorrect and that in natural systems plants take up nitrogen in numerous organic forms such as amino acids, amino acid precursors and DNA.

The fact is that the significant proportion of the organic nitrogen in the soil is readily available to the crop. The key to get an adequate level of N is to increase SOM levels rather than adding synthetic nitrogen fertilizers.

Given that synthetic nitrogen destroys organic matter, the use of these fertilizers should be avoided as they lock farmers into a perpetual dependence on these costly inputs once the organic matter levels have been run down and most of the organic nitrogen forms in the soil have been depleted. Farmers should be encouraged to obtain all their nitrogen from organic sources such as composts, manures, green manures and legumes and build up their organic matter levels.

André Leu is international director of Regeneration International. He is a longtime farmer in Australia and past president of the International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements. He is the author of The Myths of Safe Pesticides and Poisoning Our Children, published by Acres U.S.A.

Reposted with permission from Eco-Farming Daily

 

Coalition Grows at Regeneration Midwest Gathering

On June 28 and June 29, about 50 people representing Midwest farm and farming-related businesses, nonprofits, investors and economic development officials gathered in Northfield, Minnesota, to identify next steps toward formalizing the goals and launch of Regeneration Midwest (RM). RM is a 12-state regional coalition organized to serve as the foundation for transitioning five core sectors of the food and agriculture system from the current industrial model to a regenerative model.

RM came to life in late 2017, and has since been evolving as a platform for scaling up models that address the three pillars of regenerative agriculture: social, ecological and economic regeneration. The coalition originated from the poultry-centered regenerative agriculture design pioneered by the Northfield-based nonprofit, Main Street Project. Similar to other organizations throughout the country, Main Street has built a successful, workable and replicable model for re-designing the way poultry is raised. The system delivers a diversity of food products that can be produced and branded under a regenerative standard, with poultry at the center.

While highly successful as a stand-alone project, Main Street faces the same challenges as other organizations building similar models in other sectors: In order to focus on their core competencies and unleash their full potential on a regional scale, these projects need large-scale regional infrastructure support throughout the entire supply chain, which includes farmers, aggregators, marketers, distributors and processors.

RM will facilitate building and scaling up this regional infrastructure by focusing on five core strategically connected sectors of the food and agriculture industry. In this way, the coalition aims to address the common needs and challenges of individual organizations, so together they can scale faster and more efficiently.

Strategic Regenerative Opportunities

• Poultry: Starting with Main Street Project’s design, RM will facilitate the infrastructure needed for replication of this model throughout the Midwest.

• Grains: In partnership with the Midwest Grains Initiative and the Non-GMO Project, and in coordination with a large network of local operations, RM will aggregate existing standards that support agroforestry systems as a foundational blueprint for transitioning small-grain production for both human consumption and animal feed. The intention is to build supply chains to ensure a robust coordination and continuity of regenerative standards and the integration and stacking of related enterprise sectors to build larger-scale trading platforms.

• Pork, Beef: RM will join existing pastured-pork and grass-fed beef producers to coordinate and identify strategies aimed at improving production methods aligned with standards that support the regeneration of land, local economies and natural habitats for livestock species, in order to bring more valuable products to the marketplace.

• Strategically Selected Vegetables, Fruits: Vegetables represent a challenging sector for regenerative standards development, and application. Vegetable production requires intense use of outside inputs, especially if the farm doesn’t incorporate livestock for manure that can be transformed into fertilizer. Cover cropping, crop rotation, incorporation of perennial crops, alley-cropping vegetables and practices of this kind can help a farm regenerate its soil organic matter. RM will work to bring together regenerative standards that support regional scalable opportunities where separate livestock production and selected fruits and vegetable production can become more competitive as a result of their interdependence, and farmers can become their own region’s suppliers of natural inputs, thus regenerating larger landscapes.

Support Systems, Infrastructure

RM will focus first on mapping promising agriculture production models in the sectors outlined above. The core criteria for selection will be based on 1) a family of standards endorsed by the coalition; 2) the feasibility and impact of these models if they were to be scaled across the region; and 3) whether they were designed for the common good, meaning that they are ready to be made available to all farmers and institutions for adoption and deployment.

After these pieces are in place, RM will focus on missing systems infrastructure pieces that are critical to the combined deployment of promising models. So far, the following key areas of system-level programming have been identified as:

• Trade Infrastructure: A platform for large-scale trading of products will be central to the success of the 12-state coalition. RM’s role will consist of ensuring that the value-chain components are in place or that they are built by capable organizations, engaging these organizations and coordinating the process of building and scaling up a consolidated infrastructure so that participants in the 12-state region can access markets at all levels and use the trading platform to move more products from farms to tables. RM will not engage in direct marketing, sales, or handling of products. Blockchain technology, trading boards and standardization of productions and transactions for volume trading, are examples of strategic infrastructure options under development.

• Financing: Financing farms belongs at the local level, with local actors and local infrastructure. RM will help identify and support those organizations directly working at this level. Working with Iroquois Valley Farms (Evanston, Illinois) and Shared Capital Cooperative (St. Paul, Minnesota), RM will bring these financing tools to every organization in the 12-state region and facilitate their engagement. RM will also work to attract investors from around the country.

• Markets: In partnership with existing organizations, RM will support the creation of marketing campaigns to differentiate regenerative products in the marketplace through targeted regional and state campaigns.

• Education: In partnership with existing organizations, RM will support targeted regional and state campaigns aimed at educating industry leaders, investors, consumers and government officials at all levels.

• Supply Chain, Tracking Progress: The supply chain and flow of products from farms to markets is the foundation to successfully transitioning agriculture. Tracking the progress across the supply chain and ensuring that it improves continuously, that it is verified to meet regenerative standards and that there is integrity in the processes, is central to the operational goals of the RM coalition. RM will track progress on key indicators such as number of products available, number of farms engaged, acreage impacted and farmers’ overall financial performance. These indicators will ensure that we can monitor, measure, and continuously improve a successful transition to regenerative agricultural practices.

Building Executive Teams

Thanks to the strong support from Main Street Project, Regeneration International and Organic Consumers Association, RM has an organizing team and three core executives working daily to plan and execute the start-up phase of this initiative.

Based on regional conversations that took place during the 2018 MOSES Conference in La Crosse, Wisconsin, and local conversations in Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin, Kansas, Indiana and other states, we have produced a base directory of players across the 12-state region. Even though three people currently oversee the larger effort, members from each state are expected to join only if they are ready to work in cooperation, willing and partially resourced to carry on the process of building state-level coalitions and to work in alignment with the larger regional vision.

Farmers who want to join the system or nonprofits willing to engage in state-level organizing within the Midwest states can reach out to the organizers of Regeneration Midwest by emailing regenerationmidwest@gmail.com.

Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin is chief strategy officer at Main Street Project, founding member of Regeneration International and director of Regeneration Midwest.

Reposted with permission from MOSES.

Global Sequestration Potential of Increased Organic Carbon in Cropland Soils

Authors: Deborah A. Bossio, Rolf Sommer, Louis V. Verchot & Robert J. Zomer, Published: November 14, 2017 

Historical and ongoing increase of agricultural production worldwide has profoundly impacted global carbon, water and nutrient cycles1,2,3,4. Both land-use change to agriculture and agricultural production have and continue to contribute significantly to the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), accounting for as much as 24% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions5. Almost 50% of all potentially vegetated land surface globally has been converted to croplands, pastures and rangelands1,2,3,4. This land-use change and soil cultivation have contributed 136 ± 55 petagrams of carbon (Pg C) to the atmosphere from change in biomass carbon since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, with depletion of soil organic carbon (SOC) accounting for a further contribution of 78 ± 12 Pg C. This estimated 214 ± 67 Pg C from the land-use sector compares to the estimated 270 ± 30 Pg of C contributed by fossil fuel combustion6 as a historical carbon source. More recently soil organic matter also has gotten increasing attention as a potentially large and uncertain source of carbon to the atmosphere in the future in response to predicted global temperature rises7,8.

Soils, however, can act as both sources and sinks of carbon, depending upon management, biomass input levels, micro-climatic conditions, and bioclimatic change. Substantially more carbon is stored in the world’s soils than is present in the atmosphere. The global soil carbon (C) pool to one-meter depth, estimated at 2500 Pg C, of which about 1500 Pg C is soil organic carbon (SOC), is about 3.2 times the size of the atmospheric pool and 4 times that of the biotic pool6,9,10. An extensive body of research has shown that land management practices can increase soil carbon stocks on agricultural lands with practices including addition of organic manures, cover cropping, mulching, conservation tillage, fertility management, agroforestry, and rotational grazing11,12. There is general agreement that the technical potential for sequestration of carbon in soil is significant, and some consensus on the magnitude of that potential13. On this basis, the 4p1000 initiative on Soil for Food Security and Climate14, officially launched by the French Ministry of Agriculture at the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change: Conference of the Parties (UNFCCC COP 21) in Paris, aims to sequester approximately 3.5Gt C annually in soils. Croplands will be extremely important in this effort, as these lands are already being actively managed, and so amenable to implementation of improved practices12. Furthermore, because almost all cropped soils have lost a large percentage of their pre-cultivation SOC6,15, they potentially represent a large sink to re-absorb carbon through the introduction and adoption of improved or proper management aimed towards increased SOC. However, carbon is rarely stored in soils in its elemental form, but rather in the form of organic matter which contains significant amounts of other nutrients, above all nitrogen. Nutrients, biomass productivity, the type of vegetation and water availability, among other constraints therefore can be major limiting factors inhibiting increases in soil carbon sequestration16. Further imperative to sequester carbon in soils arises from the multiple co-benefits that are obtained from sequestration of carbon in soils that have been depleted of their organic matter17. Soil fertility, health, and functioning are immediate consequences of the amount of soil organic matter (and hence carbon) a soil contains; this is even more important for highly weathered soils, as is the case for the majority of soils in the humid lowland tropics. Increasing carbon in soils also means improving its physical properties and related ecosystems services, such as better water infiltration, water holding capacity, as well as potentially increasing agricultural productivity and ecological resilience11,12.

In this analysis, we illustrate where carbon might be sequestered, and how much, if, through improved practices and management, we could increase SOC on agricultural land by a generally accepted (as attainable) moderate to optimistic amount, based on the medium and high sequestration scenarios of Sommer and Bossio (2014). These scenarios from Sommer and Bossio (2014) resulted in an 0.27 and 0.54% increase in SOC in the top 30 cm of soils after 20 years, for the medium and high scenarios, respectively, that is, a 0.012 to 0.027% annual increase. The low scenario in Sommer and Bossio (2014) was not used because it refers to sequestration rates estimated primarily for unimproved pasture land. An implicit basic assumption is that in general, 50 to 70% of soil carbon stocks have been lost in cultivated soils6,15,17, such that the SOC status of almost all cultivated soils can be increased. It is expected that these cropped soils will be able to sequester carbon for at least 20 years before reaching saturation points and new SOC equilibriums13,18, while meta-analysis of field studies14 suggests that in some instances significant sequestration can continue for 30 or even up to 40 years before reaching new equilibriums. We used the recently released ISRIC SoilGrids250m19 global database of soil information, to identify and derive basic soil characteristics, i.e. SOC and soil bulk density, and the FAO GLC-Share Land Cover database20 to identify and calculate areal extent of the cropland landcover class. The analysis gives a spatially articulated estimate of the distribution and increase of SOC if equal sequestration is reached, within the medium and high scenarios, on all available cropland soils through improved practices. The results of this paper provide an estimate of what the potential amount of sequestered carbon would be in terms of tons of carbon per hectare, spatially articulated at 250 m resolution, and in terms of Pg C regionally and globally, allowing for a quantified discussion of the importance of this carbon pool within on-going global discussions regarding mitigation potential within the agricultural sector.

Results

Global Soil Organic Carbon Stocks on Croplands

Estimates of global soil carbon stocks, trends and sequestration potential11,16, particularly within the context of a warming climate7,8,21,22, are now central to important discussions ongoing within various international fora, notably the discussions on including agricultural land within mitigation strategies and protocols at the UNFCCC, and are the basis for the 4p1000 Initiative14. The spatial distribution of SOC on croplands (Fig. 1), and its contribution to total carbon stock, varies with latitude, and differs substantially from that of carbon stored in above and below ground biomass23,24. Most of the world’s SOC is stored at northern latitudes, particularly in the permafrost and moist boreal regions. In contrast, large areas of cropland in India, across the Sahel, northern China, and Australia are found on low carbon density soils. An overview of 27 studies25 reports that 1500 Pg C can be regarded as a rough estimate of the global SOC pool (to one meter depth; across all the world’s soils, more than 130 million km2), however with substantial variability among both spatially- and non-spatially-explicit estimates and a range of from 500 to 3000 Pg C.

About 372,000 km2 of cropland (Supplementary Figure S1), comprised of carbon dense soils (> 400 t C/ha and/or with a bulk density <1.0 g/cm3) and which are considered likely to lose SOC under any form of cropping management, and sandy soils unlikely to sequester carbon due to high sand content (> 85%), were excluded from the analysis as “unavailable” (Table 1). In particular, it is highlighted that high SOC soils, while accounting for only 2% of total cropland area, account for almost 6% (8.48 Pg C) of total global cropland SOC stocks, and require a set of management options aimed toward conservation and maintenance of carbon stocks25. These areas are primarily peatlands in South East Asia, Russia, some in North America, South America, Europe, Australia/Pacific, and Andosols in South America. Cultivation of peat soils has been shown to contribute significantly to global emissions from agriculture26. Tropical and temperate peatlands account for a disproportionate share of terrestrial carbon stocks considering their more limited area globally27, with peatland drainage, concentrated in Europe and Indonesia, reported to account for nearly a third of all cropland emissions28.

Table 1: Soil organic carbon (SOC) for all available cropland soils globally (i.e. those not excluded from the analysis as high SOC or sandy soils), showing both the global totals and the global averages per hectare, at current status (T0), and after 20 years for both the medium and high sequestration scenarios, and their annual increment.

Globally, cropland stores more than 140 Pg C in the top 30 cm of soil, almost 10% of the total global SOC pool. About 94% of this carbon (131.81 Pg C) is stored on the 15.9 million km2 (98% of global cropland) identified as potentially available for enhanced carbon sequestration through improved soil management and farming practices11. Global distribution of SOC is strongly influenced by temperature and precipitation15,29. SOC is generally lower in the tropics where it is hotter and/or drier, and higher in the cooler, wetter, more northerly, and to a somewhat lesser extent, southerly, latitudes (Fig. 1). Lal (2002) cites several studies showing an exponential decrease in SOC with increase in temperature. This is reflected by low SOC values found across much of the equatorial belt (e.g. less than 100 t C/ha), with the highest carbon density soils (400 t C/ha or more) found in the northern croplands and farmed peat soils of the United States, Canada, Europe and Russia (see Supplementary Table S1).

The regions of North America, Eurasia (Russia) and Europe currently store the greatest amount of carbon on cropland, each with more than 21 Pg C, and all together accounting for over 50% of all SOC stocks on cropland globally (Table 1). By contrast, Central America, North Africa, and the Australian/Pacific region have very low amounts of stored SOC, together comprising 6.48 Pg C or just over 4.6% of the global total. Western Asia, South Asia, Southeast East Asia and East Asia each have moderate amount ranging from 4.38 Pg C to 9.14 Pg C, but together accounting for just less than 2% of global total. South America, even having a fairly large amount of farmland, has a moderate 9.42 Pg C. Almost 12 Pg C, more than 8.5% of the global total, is found in Africa, with the highest concentrations found in the Eastern and Central regions. Nationally, Russia with its vast northern tracts of carbon dense agricultural land has the largest total amount of SOC stored on cropland more than 21.9 Pg C (almost 17% of the global total), followed by the United States (18.9 Pg C), China (8.4 Pg C), India (6.4 Pg C), and Brazil (5.0 Pg C) (Supplementary Table S2).

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New Study: Up to 7 Billion Tonnes of Carbon Dioxide Can Be Removed From the Atmosphere Each Year Through Better Soil Management on Farmland

Author: Georgina Smith | Published: November 14, 2017 

By better managing farmland soil, the amount of carbon stored in the top 30 centimeters of the soil could increase an extra 0.9 to 1.85 gigatons each year, say authors of a new study published today in Scientific Reports.

This is equivalent to carbon globally emitted by the transport sector (1.87 gigatons of Carbon); and equivalent to 3 – 7 billion tonnes of CO2 which could be removed from the atmosphere. For comparison, the US emits 5 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent each year (Edgar database, 2015).

The maps in the new study show how much carbon could be stored per hectare each year, which will be vital for designing global mitigation strategies, for achieving targets set out in the Paris Climate Agreement.

Since the industrial revolution, 50-70 percent of carbon stored in the soil has been lost to the atmosphere, contributing to harmful greenhouse gas emissions in the form of carbon dioxide. Since farmland is already intensively managed, improving the way it is managed is a practical step to reduce carbon in the atmosphere, say authors.

Dr. Robert Zomer, from the Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences and lead-author of the study, said: “Our finding show that turning soils into carbon sinks can sequester significant amounts of carbon in cropland soils. Our research shows soils can be part of the solution to combat climate change – and by doing so we can improve soil health.

The findings illustrate that most of the world’s carbon is stored in cooler, wetter, parts of the world in the northern hemisphere; and less in the tropics where it is hotter or drier. North America, Russia and Europe currently store for over half of the world’s carbon in croplands.

The United States showed the highest total annual potential to store carbon in the soil, followed by India, China, Russian and Australia, if management is improved. The improved practices, among others, include, using compost or (green) manure, mulching, zero tillage, cover cropping, and other regenerative and natural climate solutions, such as agroforestry.

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