Genevieve K. Croft wrote this great little CRS two-pager 'Agricultural Soils and Climate Change Mitigation'.
Click on the graphics to enlarge or display them.
Download CRS_InFocus_Report_Ag_Soils_Climate_ Mitigation_3Dec2020
Introduction
Policymakers, scientists, farmers, and other stakeholders have debated the potential of agricultural soils to sequester (store) carbon and help mitigate future climate change. This discussion includes various approaches to agriculture - referred to as carbon farming, regenerative agriculture, farming for soil health, and farming for soil carbon sequestration - and their potential to increase agriculture’s role as a greenhouse gas (GHG) sink and reduce its role as a GHG source. GHG sinks remove and store GHGs from the atmosphere, and GHG sources emit (release) them.
Policy Challenges
Many initiatives to increase soil carbon sequestration through agriculture are predicated on accurately quantifying SOC. Scientists recognize this as a technical challenge, as such quantification needs to be extrapolated from remote sensing data or discrete sampling over space and time. Improving measurement accuracy may need additional research, innovation, investment, and technical assistance.
If carbon-storing agricultural practices cost more than alternative practices (e.g., in terms of labor, equipment, productivity, or sale price), farmers are unlikely to adopt them absent requirements or incentives. Various incentives, such as those provided through carbon markets, may change the economic calculus.
Lack of awareness among agricultural producers of carbon- storingagriculturalpractices—whattheyare,whatcosts and benefits they may provide, and how to implement them—may also impede adoption. USDA programs, such as the USDA Climate Hubs, cooperative extension, and Natural Resource Conservation Service technical assistance programs, may play a role in increasing awareness of these practices, as may other state and private efforts.
Enjoy!
"Our society . . . [should be] more than lower taxes, larger homes, grandiose vacations, material consumption and gladiator entertainment.” – Unknown, letter to the editor, Corvallis Gazette-Times, 6 February 2002
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