Dirty ideas reduce CO2 in atmosphere and produce more food for “carbon farmers”
The Age of Sustainability has brought us a lot of new terms to comprehend — like Net-Zero, Carbon Neutral, Triple Bottom Line, Fair Trade, Circular Economy, and so many more. Are you keeping up? Here’s another idea to add: Carbon Farming.
What’s it mean?
Information from Yale researchers points to soil science that helps keep carbon in the ground. One key idea is that soil disturbed by plowing or overgrazing is exposed to more air, wind and rain. This allows the carbon to escape by combining with oxygen — and there you have it — more CO2 in the atmosphere. What we don’t want.
Eric Toensmeier, author of The Carbon Farming Solution, points out that keeping carbon in the soil enriches it. It also helps it hold water, and actually improves agricultural yields. Indeed, it’s possible to triple the organic matter of a farm’s dirt.
No-till farming qualifies as carbon farming. How to farm without plowing? Grow perennial crops, like apples and asparagus, with deeper roots and longer growing seasons. Mulching and planting cover crops like cereal rye also can protect the soil from erosion. What’s more, the patience necessary to take farmland out of production for some seasons can pay off in increased yields.
Diversity is a wonderful thing, including on the carbon farm. This might include integrating perennial hedgerows and fruit trees into annual crops. It can also mean raising a variety of farm animals and rotating them around the land. When no species is left in one place too long, compacting, scratching and rooting in dirt, and chewing grass all enrich farmland in different ways.
While the term is new, Carbon Farming is really just a label for small-scale agricultural practices that were common before industrial farming began in the 20th Century. To encourage the comeback of this sort of land stewardship, some advocate a certification. Scoot over “organic” and “free-range”… Here comes “carbon-friendly” foods!
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