Farmers Rewarded for Practicing ‘Carbon Farming’
Soils naturally absorb and sequester carbon dioxide and following organic practices, such as adding compost and bringing back herds of grazing animals, can make a huge difference in how much carbon dioxide soils can retain.
In 2007, a California rancher, John Wick and his partners at the Marin Carbon Project convinced researchers at the University of California, Berkeley that restoring grassland soils could serve as a major source of carbon sequestration. Using his land for the experiments, the researchers found that every year, Wick’s soils held more and more carbon.
After years of study, they found that “compost applied to five percent of the state’s grazing land would store a year’s worth of emissions from conventional farms and forestry operations there.”
Calling these regenerative practices “carbon farming,” the state of California is rewarding farmers and ranchers for how much carbon they have in their soil.
Read the full article at EcoWatch
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