A new approach to soil carbon farming

What is soil carbon farming?

Soil carbon farming is a method of farming that helps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by improving the soil’s ability to capture and hold carbon. It creates a number of long term benefits for the ecosystem, and can increase farm profitability along the way. Soil carbon farming focuses on the carbon storing capacity of soils and vegetation, with farmers using regenerative agriculture and holistic management practices to increase the carbon in the soil.

“We help farmers to remove carbon from the atmosphere, store it in the soil and get paid for it.”

LOUISE EDMONDS
(FOUNDER & CEO, CARBON SYNC)

What is Soil Carbon Sequestration?

Soil carbon sequestration can occur concurrently with agricultural production. Farmers can continue to grow the same crops but do so utilising holistic management and regenerative agricultural practices. These practices enhance the health of the soil, improve photosynthetic efficiency, and can therefore result in carbon accrual in soils that are measured and monetised through the creation of carbon credits.

What is Regenerative Agriculture?

“Regenerative agriculture is not any specific practice, but agriculture that regenerates soils, rivers, oceans, grasslands, forests, wildlife, societies and economies. Its practices are identified within a holistic context, embracing the most up-to-date science and knowledge, by people acting in their own enlightened self-interest.”

Allan Savory
President and Co-Founder, Savory Institute

Regenerative agriculture has been shown to:

improve rainfall infiltration and water use efficiency;
decrease crop loss from pests and disease;
reduce weed burdens;
improve nutrient cycling;
reduce reliance on external fertility and chemical inputs;
build resilience to the extremes of weather; floods, droughts and frosts;
improve all indicators for biodiversity; and in many cases
result in lower-cost, lower-risk farming operations.

The Soil Carbon Farming Cycle

This diagram shows the soil carbon farming cycle including the interaction between the plants and livestock.

What are the Principles of Regenerative Agriculture?

There are six principles of Regenerative Agriculture that Carbon Sync supports you to adopt, to enhance the health of your farm ecosystem.

Keep soil covered

By keeping your soil covered, you help to reduce water and wind erosion, decrease evaporation, moderate soil temperatures and suppress weed growth.

Establish living roots

Keep a living root in the ground for as long as possible, including sowing species from multiple plant groups together. Living plants produce exudates, which feed soil life and create soil structure

Integrate animals

By integrating livestock, you can significantly increase the availability of major nutrients in the soil compared to crop land where livestock are absent.

Minimise disturbance

Try to limit mechanical, chemical or physical disturbance of soil whenever possible. This will help the soil to capture and hold more rainfall, leading to lengthier growing seasons and healthier crops

Encourage vegetative diversity

The more diversity, the better. Every plant you sow can help to improve soil health and reduce reliance on fertilisers and other inputs.

Context is key

Every farm, farmer and farm business is unique. A practice that works for one farmer may not work for his/her neighbour. All interventions are carefully planned and monitored to meet the individual needs of the unique context.

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