When you think of climate change, one may think of transportation and manufacturing pollution as the main culprits. However, the global food production system accounts for over half of greenhouse gas emissions, with agricultural practices alone responsible for 11-15 percent of global emissions. Moreover, in the past 150 years, the world has seen a sharp loss of farmland topsoil. This is largely due to an increase in unsustainable agricultural practices such as the use of harmful pesticides and fertilizers, and overgrazing. Left unaddressed, this problem can lead to poor soil fertility, decreasing crop yields, and eventual farmland desertification. Thus, it is clear that the present global agricultural system must change for the greener.
As such, farmers have been turning to practices such as “regenerative agriculture” – a process that rebuilds organic matter within the soil and increases the diversity of soil bacteria and microbes.
Scientific studies have shown that regenerative agriculture has the potential to reverse climate change by helping the soil trap atmospheric carbon. When plants grow through the process of photosynthesis, they pull carbon from the atmosphere and emit some of it into the surrounding soil in the form of sugars. As the microorganisms within the soil feed on these sugars, they stabilize the carbon, trapping it within the soil. The healthier and more abundant the plants and soil microorganisms are, the more carbon that is trapped, or “sequestered”.
So, what exactly can farmers do to adopt “regenerative agricultural” practices? Firstly, many farmers have turned to “no-till” agriculture: planting practices that minimally disturb the soil to prevent the trapped carbon from escaping. Farmers are also planting perennial (year-round) crops such as alfalfa and clover, as well as a more diverse mix of crops to improve soil health. These crops have larger root systems, which help to both prevent soil erosion and diversify the microorganism populations within the soil, improving soil carbon sequestration abilities.
However, the most interesting way that farmers may be applying regenerative agriculture is through rotational livestock grazing. One patch of land is grazed at a time, and others are allowed to grow and recover, which allows for sufficient plant regeneration. The larger and more abundant the plants that grow on a patch of land, the better the carbon sequestering abilities of that soil. Rotational grazing is practiced across North America, using a variety of livestock from cattle to bison. While some studies have pointed to the possibility of using this method to raise “carbon neutral” meat, where the animal’s regenerative grazing potential sequesters more carbon than it takes to raise that animal, others have shown that this may not be possible.
Regardless of regenerative agriculture’s potential to make livestock carbon neutral, the scientific community still has high hopes for its carbon sequestration abilities in the fight against climate change. In the future, humanity will likely need to significantly reduce the amount of livestock that is raised and consumed in order to keep global warming at bay. Until then, however, regenerative agriculture is an innovative way to make global food production greener.
