Agricultural soils: they give us the time we need

AGRICULTURAL SOILS: THE ONLY SOLUTION TO CLIMATE CHANGE CRISIS

Only soils can remove enough CO2 from the atmosphere in the next 30 years to avoid the worst effects of Global Warming.

Michael Kiely* recently returned from interviewing the world’s experts on Climate Change action. Their verdict: only soils can remove enough CO2 from the atmosphere in the next 30 years to avoid the worst effects of Global Warming.

*Convenor, Carbon Coalition Against Global Warming, a farmers’ movement seeking to have soil carbon credits traded on the world greenhouse emissions abatement markets. Spent 3 weeks in USA with US Government working parties and other experts.
Dr Brian McPhearson heads up the Southwest Regional Partnership, one of seven regional partnerships evaluating technologies to capture and to reduce CO2 emissions. The Partnership encompasses: Arizona, Colorado, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Utah, Kansas, Nevada, Texas, and Wyoming. We attended the Partnership's Phase 2 Workshop in Albuqurque, New Mexico, and heard presentations from their geologic and terrestrial (soil) sequestration experts. Dr McPhearson invited us to address the gathering of 60 or so scientists and we shared with them some of the aggressive farming techniques developed by Australian 'carbon farmers'.


The potential power of soils: A 1% increase in soil carbon in just 10% of Australia’s farmland could remove 10 years worth of Australia’s CO2 emissions. A 4% increase in soil carbon could remove 40 years worth.**

**A 1% increase in soil carbon in 30cm topsoil @ 1.2 bulk density (132 t/ha CO2 equivalent) over 45m ha. Soil carbon increase estimate by agronomist and botanist Dr Christine Jones. Total Australian farmland 455m ha, ABS.)

WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY

“It buys us time…”

“C Sequestration in soil and vegetation is a bridge to the future. It buys us time while alternatives to fossil fuel take effect.”THE CARBON COALITION'S DELEGATION TO THE UNITED STATES MET WITH THE WORLD'S FOREMOST SOILS EXPERT DR RATTAN LAL WHO DESCRIBED THE MISSION OF THE COALITION AS 'NOBLE'.


- Dr Rattan Lal, Director, Carbon Management and Sequestration Center, Professor of Soil Science, School of Natural Resources
Ohio State University

“Unlike others… it is immediate…”

"Unlike many other technologies to offset fossil fuel emissions, land management for soil C sequestration can be implemented immediately.... An immediate offset of CO2 emissions provides a significant delay in the rise of atmospheric CO2 concentration. By the time that we saturate the soil’s capacity to store additional C, other methods of reducing emissions or sequestering carbon may be available or already in use.”
- Professor Bruce McCarl, Agricultural Economist and Economist, Climate Change, Texas A&M University; Member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

DR MCCARL WITH MICHAEL & LOUISA KIELY AT TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY


“Available… low cost…”

"Terrestrial C sequestration has immediate application in climate change mitigation due to its availability and relatively low cost."
- Professor Charles Rice, Department of Agricultural Economics, Kansas State University, Director of the Consortium for Agricultural Soils Mitigation of Greenhouse Gases. Dr. Rice is recognized as one of the leading soil microbiologists in the United States.

“It’s here… now…”

“Terrestrial sequestration is here and now. It’s user friendly. It’s easy to do. It can play a critical role in the early stages of our response, ahead of other methods [forestry, geologic burial].”
- Dr. John Antle, Professor of Agricultural Economics and Economics at Montana State University, Technical Leader, Economics, BigSky Carbon Sequestration Partnership

“Forests are limited…”

“Soil represents the largest carbon sink over which we have control. Improvements in soil carbon levels could be made in all rural areas, whereas the regions suited to carbon sequestration in plantation timber are limited.”

Dr Christine Jones, director, Carbon For Life Inc.

DR CHRISTINE JONES, SOIL CARBON PIONEER

“Increases in soil carbon already achieved…”

“These levels of increase in soil carbon are achievable, and have already been achieved, by landholders practicing regenerative cropping and grazing practices.”

Dr Christine Jones, Australian soil carbon specialist, director, Carbon For Life inc.