In my very first post, Save a Rainforest, I talked about how deforestation, particularly the cutting of South American rainforests, is a big driver of global warming. There are many terrible facets to this practice, but probably the worst is trading the carbon sequestration that forests provide for beef production, a big producer of greenhouse gases in itself.
But as it turns out, this is only a small part of the way that modern agricultural practices affect the climate. Recently, satellite imagery has shown that in early spring, when farmers are plowing huge areas in preparation for planting, extraordinary amounts of CO2 are released into the atmosphere. We now know that topsoil is a carbon sink that is perhaps as significant as the world’s forests, and that annual tilling of croplands, along with the application of petrochemical fertilizers, insecticides and herbicides is destroying topsoil at an alarming rate.
Farmers are caught in the tightening vice of climate change, as one of the biggest drivers of greenhouse gases, and one of the earliest recipients of their disastrous effects. The farmer’s life has always been dependent on the whims of fickle gods. But now, in the opening stages of climate change, threats are multiplying rapidly — floods, droughts, damaging hail, tornadoes, wildfires, new pests & diseases, and now increased fuel and fertilizer bills.
Soil scientists have come to understand that undisturbed topsoil, such as the early settlers found in Maine’s Aroostook County or the Great Plains, has an amazing diversity of interdependent organisms — small animals, insects, single celled critters and, most importantly, fungal threads that extend over great distances. This complex ecosystem nourishes plants that grow on the surface, recycles nutrients from dead organic matter that falls to its surface, and sequesters carbon in the soil. We now know that plowing, or even simply leaving the surface bare, kills the organisms in the most vital layer of topsoil. Adding chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides finishes the job!
A recent study by the University of Sheffield’s Grantham Centre for Sustainable Futures found that as much as 33% of the world’s “adequate or high-quality food-producing land” has been lost in the last 40 years due to the use of chemical fertilizers, frequent plowing, and climate change. With the world’s human population predicted to grow by another 2 billion people over the next decades, this is not a good trend.
But it appears that a major solution is not difficult or expensive, it just means changing old habits. Techniques for no-till agriculture are being rapidly developed that hold promise for reducing farmer’s work and expenses while increasing yields. CO2 release can be greatly reduced, even reversed as living soils return to their job of sequestering carbon again! Get an interesting peek into the farm machinery industry’s solutions: No Till Farming
In an interesting case of the Law of Unintended Consequences, there is now a debate on whether farmers should be allowed to sell carbon credits for switching to no till methods. One side argues that allowing sales would encourage farmers to switch more quickly. The other says that farmers will switch without the incentives because they will enjoy lower operating costs and higher yields. And, there are many variables that make the amount of sequestration difficult to monitor and verify. For more on carbon offsets, see: #22 — Carbon Offsets
The petrochemical industry has had a long and profitable “collaboration” with the US Department of Agriculture, pushing ever greater use of fertilizers and other chemicals on American farmers for nearly 70 years. Given their historical preference for making a buck over the public welfare, they are unlikely to be supportive of this new paradigm. Given their generous support for our politicians, the USDA may find itself pressured to soft pedal change.
Things You Can DO…
If you have a garden, experiment with converting to no-till gardening. Here’s a good link for methods: Do Not Disturb
Contact your representatives in Washington, and let them know that you want the USDA to take an active role in reducing greenhouse gases.
Thanks for reading, and special thanks to Stewart Whisenant for recommending the excellent documentary Kiss The Ground. You can find it on Netflix, and find Stewart’s posts at Reflections in the Frame.
Doug Hylan Brooklin, Maine
“If a farmer farming 1,000 acres of crops switches from continuous conventional till to continuous no-till, he or she saves 4,160 gallons of diesel fuel each year.” USDA web page
#28 — Goodbye to the Plow
Hey Doug, many thanks for the plug. Glad you liked Kiss the Ground. Another great source of information and inspiration along these lines is the work of farmer/educator/photographer Michael Ableman, especially his fantastic book FROM THE GOOD EARTH: Traditional Farming Methods in a New Age, illustrated with the author's superb photographs. Ableman has written a slew of other classics on farmers and farming that address all the points you raised in this post. Like you, Ableman is not one to wallow in the mire; he's a warrior for positive change who sets the example for the farmers of the future. He's allied in his endeavors to save the Earth with another advocate of ecological agriculture I admire named Wes Jackson, the author of the classic Consulting The Genius of Place. Again, thanks for the mention and keep up the great work!