Terraton Project

[Chris F]

A global effort to remove 1 trillion metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and use it to enrich our agricultural soils.

The world's 3.6 billion acres of agricultural soils offer the most immediate, scalable, and affordable opportunity to remove carbon dioxide from our atmosphere. This requires innovation, open-source experimentation, and investment

 

[Chris F]

After the conversations recently, interesting to see this is being done already.

 

[Clive]

Why couldn't BBC Breakfast just play this on their Farming week !!

 

[martian]

It's taking a while, but at last the message is getting through...only farmers can save us from global scorching! And, as they say in the video, it's really very easy. Despite reports in Nature etc that say no-till techniques cannot sequester much carbon it the soil, we've got our soils on the farm up to between 6 and 8% SOM in less than ten years. It really is time that the BBC/politicians/academics et al come on board and really focus on soil. The upsides are win/win/win: climate stabilisation/ flood and drought prevention, with nutrient dense food thrown in.

And less work and more money for farmers. What are we all waiting for?

 

[Chris F]

It's taking a while, but at last the message is getting through...only farmers can save us from global scorching! And, as they say in the video, it's really very easy. Despite reports in Nature etc that say no-till techniques cannot sequester much carbon it the soil, we've got our soils on the farm up to between 6 and 8% SOM in less than ten years. It really is time that the BBC/politicians/academics et al come on board and really focus on soil. The upsides are win/win/win: climate stabilisation/ flood and drought prevention, with nutrient dense food thrown in.

And less work and more money for farmers. What are we all waiting for?

6-8% SOM is very big numbers and mean you could do that small 0.4% increase for many years.

 

[Grass And Grain]

Despite reports in Nature etc that say no-till techniques cannot sequester much carbon it the soil, we've got our soils on the farm up to between 6 and 8% SOM in less than ten years.

Is that sampled through the 10 inches or so of topsoil? Or just in the top 2-3 inches?

It's just that the last long term study i was reading about showed DD to have much more OM near to the surface (compared to other cultivation systems), but about the same overall OM levels when sampled throughout the topsoil profile.

Can't remember who was doing the work - Rothamstead???

 

[Chris F]

Is that sampled through the 10 inches or so of topsoil? Or just in the top 2-3 inches?

It's just that the last long term study i was reading about showed DD to have much more OM near to the surface (compared to other cultivation systems), but about the same overall OM levels when sampled throughout the topsoil profile.

Can't remember who was doing the work - Rothamstead???

Increasing SOM have very little to do with the machinery you use, but a lot to do with the way you farm from all the research I have seen. Just buying a direct drill won't change that much, it's not a magic wand. However, combine this with better rotations, cover crops, encouraging increased soil activity from worms, integrating livestock, and so on, you will see SOM increase. But I have seen farms do this without direct drilling as well.

 

[SilliamWhale]

Once you wade through the first chapter of Charles Massys book he talks a lot about these projects in Oz. Pension Companys and Co2 sequestration in land use

 

[SilliamWhale]

Is that sampled through the 10 inches or so of topsoil? Or just in the top 2-3 inches?

It's just that the last long term study i was reading about showed DD to have much more OM near to the surface (compared to other cultivation systems), but about the same overall OM levels when sampled throughout the topsoil profile.

Can't remember who was doing the work - Rothamstead???

Its more complex than that I'm afraid

 

[organicguy]

Once you wade through the first chapter of Charles Massys book he talks a lot about these projects in Oz. Pension Companys and Co2 sequestration in land use

Half way through "this" book having read "that" book earlier and Gabe Browns before that. All three should be compulsory reading for everyone involved in Agriculture from farmers to politicians. Completely inspiring and has caused me to change my farming plans after 20 years organic.

 

[Clive]

SOM / soil carbon quantification is complex but 0.2% per year is a number I have seen used quite a lot as being perfectly possible using a conservation ag approach or previously heavily cultivated soils and would reflect my own experience

 

[SilliamWhale]

Half way through "this" book having read "that" book earlier and Gabe Browns before that. All three should be compulsory reading for everyone involved in Agriculture from farmers to politicians. Completely inspiring and has caused me to change my farming plans after 20 years organic.

Really? Tell me more about what you are changing?

 

[heritagefarmer]

Does anyone have any more knowledge about indigo ag, apart from what you can read on their website, what they are like to deal with etc? Further info on their model?

 

[Chris F]

Does anyone have any more knowledge about indigo ag, apart from what you can read on their website, what they are like to deal with etc? Further info on their model?

I have requested more. It’s a US only thing as far as I understand.

 

[heritagefarmer]

I have requested more. It’s a US only thing as far as I understand.

They are currently spoiling to recruit someone to head up their European carbon trading team in Switzerland, according to their careers page.

 

[heritagefarmer]

*looking

 

[Grass And Grain]

So if i get a herd of 200 cows so that i get some FYM to help increase the OM of my arable depleted soils in order to combat climate change, then i might get paid for doing this.

Are they sure this will work?

 

[martian]

Is that sampled through the 10 inches or so of topsoil? Or just in the top 2-3 inches?

It's just that the last long term study i was reading about showed DD to have much more OM near to the surface (compared to other cultivation systems), but about the same overall OM levels when sampled throughout the topsoil profile.

Can't remember who was doing the work - Rothamstead???

Samples taken from the top seven inches or so.

We keep hearing about studies that show no real OM increases under 'no-till', I can only assume that the no-tillers that are being studied are growing a GM corn/soya rotation with maximum inputs and a lot of bare soil, as happens over large swathes of N and S America. As it happens, you don't need a herd of cows to increase SOM (though they do help), you need to have living roots in the soil for as long as possible, pumping sugar and energy into the soil food web. Cover crops are your friend here. David Brandt has transformed his soils in Caroll, Ohio so much that the Government Soil classification bods tried to mark his farm out as being a whole new type. I don't think he has any animals on the place, but he loves his cover crops and also grows multi-species companions with sunflowers etc, which allow him to get higher yields than his neighbours, with no other inputs beyond seed. He is no-till and his soil, like Gabe Brown's and indeed ours, gets deeper and deeper every year. No-one knows where the limit is, but it is way beyond where most boffins imagine...

 

[n.w]

Fantastic !

 

[organicguy]

Really? Tell me more about what you are changing?

I have realised that we are still burning more carbon than we are adding. We have started mob grazing (in a small way,we require lots of infrastructure to do it everywhere). Cover crops where we have a window, worrying less about docks (our main reason for cultivation), all crops through the cattle rather than sold off farm, trying to get to the position where one cut of forage per year can be dropped back into the soil.