Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>]

Got to take issue with it.  Making biochar makes smoke; it releases CO2 
immediately into the atmosphere. Organic growing and putting organic matter 
directly into the soil does sequester carbon, but chemical fertilizers and 
excessive tilling oxidize it. Lovelock has done great work but both those 
pH.d's need to study up on current research. Many great minds have gone on to 
promote silly projects.

Might check out this
 Organic farming sequesters atmospheric carbon and nutrients in soils
A white paper on what we found and how we found it.
By Paul Hepperly, New Farm Research Manager, the Rodale Institute
http://www.rodaleinstitute.org/ob_2

   "Why does the soil carbon level increase in organic systems but not in 
conventional systems when crop biomass is so similar? We believe the answer 
lies in the different decay rates of soil organic matter under different 
management systems. In the conventional system the application of soluble 
nitrogen fertilizers stimulates more rapid and complete decay of organic 
matter sending carbon into the atmosphere instead of retaining it in the soil 
as the organic systems do.

   "Additionally, soil microbial activity, specifically the work of 
mycorrhiza fungi, plays an important role in helping conserve and slow down 
the decay of organic matter. Collaborative studies in our FST with the United 
States Department of Agriculture Research Service (ARS) researchers, led by 
Dr. David Douds, show that mychorriza fungi are more prevalent in the FST 
organic systems. These fungi work to conserve organic matter by aggregating 
organic matter with clay and minerals. In soil aggregates, carbon is more 
resistant to degradation than in free form and thus more likely to be 
conserved. Support for this work comes from United States Department of 
Agriculture researchers at the Sustainable Agriculture Laboratory in 
Beltsville, Maryland. Their findings demonstrate that mychorrizal fungi 
produce a potent glue-like substance called glomalin that is crucial for 
maximizing soil aggregation. We believe that glomalin is an important 
component for carbon soil retention and encourage increased investigation of 
this mechanism in carbon sequestration."

Full article at http://www.rodaleinstitute.org/ob_2

paul tradingpost@lobo.net


*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 11/8/2009 at 4:17 PM Marty Kraft wrote:

>My interest is not just in improving my soil. I have been doing
>pretty good in that department. The carbon that i put in the soil as
>organic matter will cycle back out into the atmosphere as CO2 as the
>organisms break it down. If i create terra prita and add it to the
>soil i will be sequestering carbon in the soil for over a thousand
>years while i improve the cation carrying capacity, the ability to
>hold microrizzal fungi and moisture. I would rather not suffer the
>slings and arrows of outrageous climate change but rather take up
>arms against it.
>
>There is an online conference which someone might be interested at
>this link. http://www.bioeconomyconference.org/  The two speckers i'm
>interested in are shown below.
>
>Plenary Session Speakers
>
>James E. Lovelock, Ph.D.
>Dr. Lovelock is one of the world’s most renowned thinkers on global
>environmental science. He has called upon farmers to convert
>agricultural residues to biochar for incorporation into the soil as
>the only solution to global climate change.
>
>Johannes Lehmann, Ph.D.
>Dr. Lehmann is associate professor of soil fertility management and
>soil biogeochemistry at Cornell University and co-author of Biochar
>for Environmental Management: Science and Technology. He will discuss
>the combined benefit of biochar for carbon sequestration and improved
>soil fertility.
>
>On Nov 8, 2009, at 2:50 PM, Tradingpost wrote:
>
>>
>>> From what I read the Terra Preta was not the result of just adding
>>> charcoal to the soil. It involved adding large amounts of organic
>>> matter as well and may have taken centuries to develop into the
>>> black, fertile soil. If anyone has that long to wait, go for it.
>>> We build the healthiest soil already with a wide range of organic
>>> matter - and that contains plenty of carbon as well. I know. I
>>> started with thin, poor, arid climate dirt and brought it to
>>> serious fertility in a couple years.
>>
>> paul tradingpost@lobo.net
>>
>> "Down one road lies disaster, down the other utter catastrophe.Let
>> us hope we have the wisdom to choose wisely."
>>  - Woody Allen
>>
>> *********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********
>>
>> On 11/8/2009 at 12:23 PM Ken Hargesheimer wrote:
>>
>>> I can not think of any thing as destructive to the soil and organic
>>> matter as biochar. Farmers did not come up with this hairbrain
>>> idea.  I
>>> studied Brazilian jungle farming before the promoters got to college.
>>> Biochar destroys the one thing the soil needs more than any other
>>> thing:
>>> organic matter.  Burn it up and put the ashes on the soil.  Excuse
>>> me!
>>>
>>> Ken Hargesheimer
>>
>>
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