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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Organic sequesters carbon
  • Date: Wed, 19 Mar 2008 22:47:31 -0600


Global Warming is an issue that impacts everyone, yet it is also is an issue
where everyone can make an impact.
http://www.rodaleinstitute.org/global_warming

Simple everyday tasks, such as what food you buy, can either contribute to—or
reduce—global warming. Rodale Institute research shows that organically
managed soils can store (sequester) more than 1,000 pounds of carbon per
acre, while non-organic systems can cause carbon loss. For consumers, this
means that the simple act of buying organic products can help to reduce
global climate change.

“In this age of carbon awareness, we think farmers should be well rewarded
for innovative stewardship that builds soil for future generations,” says Tim
LaSalle, the Institute’s CEO.

Food decisions matter

Your food decisions matter because how food was grown, processed and
transported may have demanded lots of fuel, pesticides and synthetic
fertilizers—all contributors to global warming—without pulling any new carbon
into the soil in the process. Instead of being converted to carbon for later
use by plants, as in organic farming systems, crop residues in the
conventional system quickly burn up, releasing CO2—a major greenhouse
gas—into the atmosphere. Further, synthetic fertilizers used in non-organic
farming are the largest source of carbon dioxide generation in agriculture.

Our side-by-side field trials—where we have been comparing conventional and
organic agriculture for nearly 30 years—show we can produce corn and soybeans
with an average yield the same as the conventional system, while building
soil health and cutting energy use. In dry years, the organic system tends to
even do better, thanks to improved water-holding capacity of the extra soil
organic matter.

Great carbon-holding potential

Right now, American farmlands under organic production represent just a
sliver of the pie. Even so, the 2.4 million U.S. acres managed organically in
2005—just 0.5 percent of all U.S. cropland—captured an estimated 2.4 billion
pounds of atmospheric carbon.

Imagine this: the carbon sequestration potential of 25 percent or even 50
percent of U.S. agricultural farmlands converted to organic production is 120
to 240 billion pounds per year, the equivalent of removing up to 42 million
cars from the road!

In this age of carbon trading and ecological footprinting, we think organic
farmers should be rewarded for innovation and stewardship that protects and
builds the soil for future generations as they produce food for us now.
That’s why we continue pioneering research to help farmers sequester carbon
through how they raise their crops and their livestock, and to reduce or
eliminate synthetic products that would add to carbon emissions.

Favor carbon-smart farming

Our national agricultural policy—embedded in five-year Farm Bill plans, like
the one currently being negotiated—urgently needs transformation to encourage
carbon-smart farming rather than commodity crops. International trade policy
can do the same if nations are allowed to give preference to crops and
products with a lower carbon footprint.

Good food policy will free up farmers to become the new champions in fighting
climate change to create a better future for us all.




  • [Livingontheland] Organic sequesters carbon, Tradingpost, 03/20/2008

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