Category: Uncategorized

August 16,2023

A long-term study conducted in the northern Great Plains region of the US indicates that perennial crops such as intermediate wheatgrass (Kernza) may sequester greater amounts of soil carbon and nitrogen compared to annual crops like wheat, with higher carbon sequestration rates also observed at both the surface layer and whole soil profile with intermediate wheatgrass compared to other perennial crops like switchgrass and smooth bromegrass.

Abstract

Perennial crops may sequester greater soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) than annual crops due to higher root biomass production, but the potential of long-term cultivation of perennial bioenergy crops receiving various N fertilization rates in sequestering C and N needs further exploration. Soil samples (0–120 cm) collected from 2009 to 2019 under perennial bioenergy crops receiving various N fertilization rates and an annual crop were analyzed for soil total C (STC) and N (STN) in the US northern Great Plains. Perennial bioenergy crops were intermediate wheatgrass (IW, Thinopyrum intermedium [Host] Barkworth and Dewey), smooth bromegrass (SB, Bromus inermis L.), and switchgrass (SG, Panicum virgatum L.); N fertilization rates were 0, 28, 56, and 84 kg N ha⁻¹, and annual crop was spring wheat (WH, Triticum aestivum, L.). The STC increased, but STN decreased by soil depth, regardless of treatments and years. At 0–120 cm, IW sequestered C at 10.6 Mg C ha⁻¹ year⁻¹ compared with 5.4–6.8 Mg C ha⁻¹ year⁻¹ for SB and SG from 2009 to 2019. Nitrogen fertilization rate had limited effect on STC and STN. At 0–30 cm, STC was 2.0–5.4 Mg C ha⁻¹ greater and STN 0.10–0.24 Mg N ha⁻¹ greater with perennial bioenergy crops than WH. Long-term cultivation of IW can sequester more C in the soil to a greater depth than SB and SG and perennial bioenergy crops can sequester more C and N at the surface layer than an annual crop in the semiarid region of the US northern Great Plains.

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https://www.farmprogress.com/carbon/soil-next-frontier-achieve-carbon-goal?utm_source=Bibblio&utm_campaign=Related

Shelley E. Huguley

Cover crops keep living roots on the soil year-round, increases soil organic matter, and enhances micro-nutrient populations.  No-till, cover crops and adding carbon to the soil reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

 

Ron Smith | Jan 04, 2022

https://www.cargill.com/2022/cargill-regenconnecttm-expands-program-eligibility-to-15-states

Program offers growers a simple, flexible, transparent way to access the carbon marketplace through adoption of regenerative agriculture practices

MINNEAPOLIS (May 10, 2022) – Enrollment opens this month for Cargill RegenConnectTM, a voluntary market-based regenerative agriculture program offering producers a simple, flexible, and transparent way to access the growing carbon marketplace. For the 2022-23 crop season Cargill has expanded grower eligibility to 15 states including: Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, Tennessee, Arkansas, Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Kentucky, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

“In our first year, Cargill has received a tremendous response from growers about RegenConnect,” said Nathan Fries, program lead for Cargill RegenConnect. “It is our goal to deliver a best-in-class program that is economically viable for farmers and improves their profitability through the tools, resources and market access they need to make the shift to regenerative agriculture.”

Cargill will once again offer one-crop-year contracts to producer customers in eligible states to sequester carbon through implementation of new or expanded regenerative agriculture practices such as cover crops, no-till or reduced-till. Eligible acres must have a primary crop of corn, soy or wheat. Farmers can choose the practices that are best suited to their operation’s unique growing conditions. For the 2022-23 enrollment, Cargill will offer a market competitive price of $25 per metric ton of carbon sequestered per acre.

Carbon sequestration achieved through RegenConnect will contribute to Cargill’s scope 3 climate commitment and also can help the company’s downstream customers achieve their voluntary carbon reduction goals. Cargill aims to have 10 million acres enrolled in sustainable and regenerative farming programs by 2030.

How to Enroll for 2022-23 Season

Farmers looking to unlock the profit potential of their farm through adoption of regenerative agriculture practices can enroll in the 2022-23 RegenConnect program starting mid-May by visiting www.cargillregenconnect.com or by connecting with their Cargill relationship manager. To support farmers during the upcoming enrollment period, Cargill has expanded its team of conservation agronomists to offer technical support in successfully implementing regenerative soil health best practices. Cargill has also added support to its grain origination team, dedicated to providing farmers with an unparalleled enrollment experience.

The program’s intuitive digital platform is powered by carbon measurement firm Regrow and uses the industry leading soil carbon model, DNDC (DeNitrification-DeComposition). The program incorporates weather, soil management and environmental conditions that allows farmers to easily model the soil’s response to practice changes and estimate quantified carbon outcomes. In addition, enrolled farmers can track management practices for each of their fields and crops. Management practices for each field can be imported from compatible farm management systems or identified with remote sensing technology. The Regrow platform was built to ensure secure data collection and provides transparent measurement and verification options for farmers.

For more information about RegenConnect, growers can visit www.cargillregenconnect.com.

About Cargill
Cargill’s 155,000 employees across 70 countries work relentlessly to achieve our purpose of nourishing the world in a safe, responsible and sustainable way. Every day, we connect farmers with markets, customers with ingredients, and people and animals with the food they need to thrive. We combine 156 years of experience with new technologies and insights to serve as a trusted partner for food, agriculture, financial and industrial customers in more than 125 countries. Side-by-side, we are building a stronger, sustainable future for agriculture. For more information, visit Cargill.com and our News Center.

Media Contact: media@cargill.com

Time Magazine:
https://news.yahoo.com/soil-power-climate-solution-often-142403985.html

Jennifer Fergesen
October 21, 2022

Young wheat grows in parched soil on a field during very dry weather on April 27, 2020 near Luckau, Germany. Credit – Sean Gallup—Getty Images

One of the most significant carbon sinks on the planet is right below your feet. Soil, that layer of organic material and crushed-up rock that covers much of the terrestrial earth like a chocolate coating, contains about 2,500 billion metric tons of carbon. It’s the second-biggest carbon sink on the planet after the ocean, currently holding about three times as much carbon as the atmosphere. Some scientists and activists think it could do even more.

And increasingly, companies and governments agree. From Ben & Jerry’s to Unilever, companies are calling for more environmentally friendly farming practices as a way to meet net-zero goals. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Agriculture last year announced it would be investing $10 million to better monitor and measure soil’s carbon sequestration under its Conservation Reserve Program.

“Soil is the foundation of human civilization,” says Jeff Creque, director of rangeland and agroecosystem management at the Carbon Cycle Institute, an environmental organization based in California working to boost the carbon-sequestering power of soil and other natural carbon sinks. “We don’t have agriculture without fertile soils, and we don’t have fertile soils without carbon rich-soils.”

The Role of Soil
Carbon in soil takes two forms: organic (derived from living things) and inorganic. Inorganic carbon comes from carbon-containing rocks like limestone, marble, and chalk, which are most common in desert soils, as well as reactions between atmospheric carbon dioxide and minerals in the soil. But the majority of the carbon contained in soil is organic, and it’s this organic material that sets it apart from lifeless dirt.

Plants are the main source of organic carbon in soil and the main bridge carbon takes between the atmosphere and the earth. They absorb carbon from the atmosphere through photosynthesis, the process by which plants convert carbon dioxide into the carbohydrates they use for energy and to build their bodies. When plants die or shed leaves, petals, or other debris, the decomposers that live in the soil below consume them; they also eat the carbon-containing mucilage (a thick, gluey secretion) that roots exude while they’re alive.

The decomposers will re-release some of the carbon back into the atmosphere as they respirate; this carbon spends only a short amount of time in the soil. But several mechanisms can draw the carbon deeper into the soil, where it can be sequestered for years, decades, or longer. Rain, for example, can dissolve some carbon compounds and carry them deep into the groundwater. Mycorrhizal fungi, which form a symbiotic relationship with plants, carry carbon along their deep, rootlike hyphae and secrete compounds that help glue it in place.

And some carbon compounds can bind with the minerals in clay, a form of carbon sequestration that can last hundreds or even thousands of years. This chemically bonded carbon is part of soil’s stable carbon pool, together with carbon that has traveled deep enough in the soil (about 1 meter) to avoid being consumed and respirated into the atmosphere. (Carbon can also be sequestered long-term in frozen soil, as in the permafrost.)

How Farming Impacts Soil Health
All of these mechanisms are most effective in healthy, minimally disturbed soil with plenty of organic material from a thriving community of living things. Unfortunately, there’s less and less of this kind of soil left on the planet. Some of the most significant remaining swaths of soil are controlled by agriculture, which covers about 38% of the global land surface. But standard agricultural practices like tilling disrupt the downward path of carbon, exposing once-sequestered organic compounds to the air and allowing carbon to escape into the atmosphere.

That’s where regenerative agriculture, sometimes called carbon farming, comes in. This approach to agriculture focuses on restoring and maintaining soil health through a holistic set of practices, including reducing tilling, composting farm waste, and planting plots with cover crops such as clover so they continue receiving carbon when they aren’t being used for other things. In addition to absorbing more carbon, proponents say this approach can help recharge groundwater, prevent pests, and increase crop yields.

Regenerative agriculture is based on practices far older than modern industrial farming, championed in recent years by activists like Robert Rodale of the Rodale Institute and Allan Savory of The Savory Institute. Their initial acolytes tended to be small, experimental farmers and organic producers. But in the past decade, several multinational corporations have announced goals to adopt regenerative agriculture practices, including Unilever, PepsiCo, and General Mills. These commitments help corporations toward their net-zero goals, in addition to protecting their supply chains against the effects of global warming, drought, and desertification.

Using Soil as the Solution
Some corporate advocates of regenerative farming, including Ben & Jerry’s and Timberland, have formed a coalition with farmers to lobby Congress to include funds to support regenerative agriculture in the 2023 Farm Bill. This coalition, Regenerate America, argues in its policy recommendations that regenerating the soil can impact not only the climate but also rural economies, communities, and health outcomes.

Some farmers and scientists are experimenting with soil additives, called amendments, to further boost soil’s carbon-sequestering potential in conjunction with regenerative agriculture. One of the most promising amendments is rock dust. While most of the more familiar soil amendments, like compost and manure, boost the organic pathways for carbon to enter the soil, rock dust also jumpstarts the inorganic pathways.

The soil amendment currently garnering the most buzz may be rock dust, though it’s far from a new technology. “Rock dust has been applied to lands at a large scale for many years because farmers knew that ground-up rock holds important mineral nutrients for plants,” says Whendee Silver, a professor of ecosystem ecology and biogeochemistry at University of California, Berkeley. It’s been used in Europe since at least the late 19th century, when the German doctor Julius Hensel published the book “Bread From Stones” advocating for what he called “stonemeal manure” made from igneous rocks, which form through the cooling and solidification of magma or lava.

Today, researchers are experimenting primarily with crushed basalt, an igneous rock rich in minerals including iron, magnesium, and calcium—similar in composition to the rock found in the famously fertile soils that surround volcanoes. Basalt is one of the most common rocks in the upper layers of the earth’s crust, and mining operations bring up huge amounts of it as they search for more profitable things underneath. “​​Putting that material out onto soils is a win-win as long as the material is safe,” Silver says—that is, not contaminated with heavy metals or other toxic substances.

In the presence of water, the magnesium and calcium in the basalt react with the carbon in the atmosphere and soil to form bicarbonates, which can remain dissolved in the groundwater or eventually precipitate out as a solid. This makes the carbon unavailable for decomposers, so it won’t be respirated back into the atmosphere. Basalt also contains minerals like potassium and phosphorus that are essential for plants, which can help increase crop yields—and healthy plants absorb more carbon.

Another soil amending technology is biochar, a black substance made by applying heat to plant matter in a low-oxygen environment. Creating biochar releases less carbon dioxide than burning plants or allowing them to decay, two of the usual routes to get rid of the inedible parts of crops, grass, or trees that farmers clear to plant new fields.

About 50% of the carbon in the plants remains trapped in the biochar, which can then be added to soil to boost water retention and fertility. This method has been promoted as a more technologically feasible and localized alternative to carbon capture and sequestration technology; consumers can already buy cookstoves to make their own biochar at home.

“At this point in our history, we’re looking at every possible strategy,” says Creque. “The beauty of terrestrial sequestration … is that we see this enormous raft of co-benefits that emerges with those strategies.”

—With reporting by Jennifer Junghans

This article is part of a series on key topics in the climate crisis for time.com and CO2.com, a division of TIME that helps companies reduce their impact on the planet. For more information, go to co2.com