Increasing the organic matter content of soils has many benefits, but I
don't think it can help in solving global climate change. In a book by
Anthony Young he does some rough calculations on the amount of carbon that
can be sequestered by increasing the organing matter in soils. Even if all
available agricultural land were used for this, the amount of carbon stored
would be very small compared to what is needed to offset burning of fossil
fuels. So this should not be held up as a solution to climate change, but
one should stress the other benefits of increasing organic matter.
Charles.
planet earth.
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WEB VIDEO OF THE WEEK:
SOIL IS ONE SECRET SOLUTION TO GLOBAL WARMING
Can organic farming fight climate change? Yes. And we're not just talking
about
food miles. Research from the Rodale Institute shows that sustainably-farmed
soil absorbs 30% more carbon than conventional agriculture, and switching
our
farmland to organic would cut greenhouse emissions by 10% in the US (20% in
Canada and most of the rest of the world). For a concise