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Organic Agriculture has Vast Potential to Slow Climate Change |
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For 23 years The Rodale Institute in Kutztown Pennsylvania has been conducting an experiment which is gradual yielding some dramatic conclusions about how organic farming techniques, if widely adopted, may alter what is happening to our planet. On 12 acres, The Rodale Farming Institute Systems Trial® or FST, has been comparing three agricultural management systems side-by-side: one conventional, one legume-based organic, and one manure-based-organic. In 23 years the two organic systems show an increase of soil carbon of 15-28%, the conventional system showed no increase.
When carbon is taken out of the atmosphere and stored for long periods of time it is called sequestration and it was one of the goals of the Kyoto protocol to increase sequestration as well as cut down on carbon emissions. While such sequestration will not solve the problem of global warming, it can help buy us precious time to overcome the technical and political barriers to rapid reduction in carbon emissions. But how significant could this effect be?
According to Paul Hepperly, the Research Manager at Rodale, organic farming techniques they have tested can sequester about 1,000 lbs of carbon per acre equivalent to about 3,670 lbs of carbon dioxide with cover crops and rotation under organic full till management. But in a recent interview he also stated that “…there is additional opportunity to combine our system with compost and no tillage to get substantially more carbon sequestration or fixation, up to 3 times our previous calculations.â€Â
If we use the more conservative estimate of 3,670 lbs per acre and multiply this times the 160 million acres in the US planted in corn and soybeans, it would capture 293 million tons of CO2 per year or about three-quarters of the reductions required of the US under the Kyoto protocols. Because total US cropland is 431 million acres, the potential is even greater. This does not even include savings resulting from the fact that organic production, according to Dr. David Pimentel of Cornell University, uses about 63% of the energy consumed in conventional farming.
We don’t really know why organic techniques sequester so much carbon but researchers believe it is probably related to the slower rate of breakdown of organic matter. In conventional agriculture, the application of man-made nitrogen fertilizers accelerates decay sending more carbon back into the atmosphere. To make matters worse, the synthetic fertilizer also kills natural soil fungi called mychorriza. Work by agriculture researcher Dr. David Douds shows that mychorizza are more prevalent in organic systems and that they slow down the decay of organic matter.
But there are other benefits to this system which make it relevant to what is happening right now to farms throughout the world. It is estimated that 20% of potential food crop production is lost because of unfavorable weather such as drought, flooding, unseasonable temperatures, and storm damage. These extreme weather patterns have been on the increase, probably due to climate change. Research by Dr. Pimentel showed that yields of corn and soybeans were not less for the organic systems, except during drought years when organic systems yielded 25 to 75% more. The reason for this is that increased organic matter in the soil means more moisture is retained.
Efforts are afoot to harness such processes for the benefits of farmers worldwide. It would be especially beneficial if small farmers could benefit from global carbon trading. At present, it is easier for large forestry projects and cleaner industrial processes to gain access to carbon credits. If the amount of carbon being captured in soils and trees by small farms can be measured accurately, this can change. According to Louis Verchot of the World Agroforestry Centre (ICARF), “The potential for large sums of money to flow to developing countries through carbon trade is real.â€Â
ICARF and The Earth Institute at Columbia University and Michigan State University are studying how to integrate data from satellites, field surveys and labs to measure the amount of carbon being stored on farms and in forests. This information is being used to help NGO’s like World Wildlife Fund, Care International and World Vision to gain carbon financing for projects.
Hopefully, the potential of the soil to slow climate change can be harnessed to buy us enough time to cut our consumption of fossil energy. At any rate, it is worth looking at how organic agriculture can rebuild soils using inexpensive technologies that farmers in developing countries can afford and it is reassuring to think that this can be done without a reduction in food produced.
Bill Boteler is an environmentalist and writer who works for The Natural Resources Council of America (not the same as the NRDC). He lives in Woodley Park, in Washington, DC. He writes about enviromental issues, including a recent post about plastic pollution.
This is a pretty amazing result. If the U.S. turned all of its agriculture organic, it would probably be good for the economy too. The organic foods market has been growing at a remarkable rate. An organic base in America could prop up American farms with less subsidies, making it better for everyone involved.
Is it possible to provide organic food to public ?
and
How to provide sufficient nutrients to the plant for better productin?
Give the Name of organic material for source of plant nurtients ?
Thanking u.
Me and my dad are trying to find reliable information on how to get started running an organic farm. I was wondering how one could find large buyers and if you could make a living just raising organic crops.
I have been an cert organic veg grower for 18 years and sell to Whole foods mostly. I only farm about 4 acres, I must take my produce a few hundred miles, usually over night, then pay shipping to Austin Texas. I can tell you that at times I have had to throw out several tons of nice veg, over produced or was not needed and at other times, sell everything I have at good prices, wishing I had more, having buyers, give me order way in advance. The produce must go thru QC .