Capturing Carbon
This week, we attended a film screening of a documentary released in 2020 called Kiss the Ground. In summary, the film highlights topsoil loss and features a number of activists, scientists, farmers and politicians who are turning to regenerative agriculture to save the planet’s important resource.
New Red Potatoes
Zucchini
Cucumbers
Kohlrabi
Lettuce
Pac Choi
Garlic Bulb
Spring Onions
Slicing Tomatoes
Parsley/Herb Bunch
Green Beans (larges)
Some staggering statistics set the stage to get us to think about the importance of our farming techniques and the role it plays in keeping carbon out of the atmosphere. According to Rattan Lal, director of Ohio State University’s Carbon Management and Sequestration Center, the world’s cultivated soils have lost between 50 and 70 percent of their original carbon stock, much of which has oxidized upon exposure to air to become CO2. Absent carbon and critical microbes, soil becomes mere dirt, a process of deterioration that’s been rampant around the globe. Many scientists say that regenerative agricultural practices can turn back the carbon clock, reducing atmospheric CO2 while also boosting soil productivity and increasing resilience to floods and drought. Such regenerative techniques include planting fields year-round in crops or other cover, and agroforestry that combines crops, trees, and animal husbandry.
Better understanding just how much carbon can be held with the soil layer, restoration programs have been initiated in places like the former North American prairie, the North China Plain, and even the parched interior of Australia might help put carbon back into the soil and reduce the carbon in the atmosphere.
As a small farm, we play a micro-role in the soil sequestering cycle. But put all of our tiny farms together and the pool gets significantly larger. Collectively, small farm are making a difference. The subtle shift in the discussion about global warming, which has been heavily focused on curbing emissions of fossil fuels is the take away for us. A closer look at bringing carbon back into soils brings a sharper focus on the importance of soil health. Not only to offset fossil fuels, but also to feed a growing global population.
Hoarding dead plants,
