Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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

Food decisions matter
 More on global warming
http://www.rodaleinstitute.org/gw/more_on

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.