Gord Miller, Environmental Commissioner of Ontario, is hosting a Roundtable today at the University of Guelph starting at 8:30 a.m. Entitled “Soil Carbon and Ecological Services: New Opportunities for Ontario Farmers?” the goal of this by-invitation-only event is to initiate a province-wide dialogue on this important issue.

As pointed out in The Roots of Sustainability: Engaging the Soil Carbon Solution in the ECO’s 2010-11 Annual Report, earth’s atmosphere contains too much carbon and our soils contain too little. Farmers can do a lot to change this situation by adopting agricultural methods that sequester carbon, as opposed to let it oxidize into CO₂. This not only mitigates climate change, but also provides a host of other benefits, such as reduced soil erosion, flood protection, cleaner water, and enhanced biodiversity.

The Commissioner’s Roundtable hopes to create more discussion about how society can partner with farmers to share the costs and risk of transition to a richer soil carbon farming future.

The Commissioner will be live tweeting and recording these speeches at this round table.

Follow @Ont_ECO or #ecosoils to learn more.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel to for updates of these speeches.

Below is a list of speakers

Click here to download the biographies of these speakers.

8:45 – 9:30 Dr. Paul Voroney (University of Guelph)

8:45 – 9:30 Adam Hayes and Anne Verhallen (Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs)

10:30 – 11:15 Doug Weatherbee (SoilDoctor.org)

10:30 – 11:15 Dr. Johannes Lehmann (Cornell University)

1:30-2:15 Ian Campbell (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada)

1:30-2:15 Karen Haugen-Kozyra (The Prasino Group)

3:15-3:30 Don McCabe (Ontario Federation of Agriculture)

In my latest Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Progress Report I talk about the potential for soil carbon sequestration as a tool for mitigating climate change. In fact, one of my four recommendations is that “the Ontario government investigate and publicly report on the potential for soil carbon sequestration as a GHG mitigation strategy.”

At the press conference following the release of my report, one member of the media asked why I was recommending a strategy that was costing billions of dollars in Alberta with very little in the way of results to show for all that expense. It was clear that the questioner had confused carbon capture and storage (CCS) with soil carbon sequestration – an understandable mistake given that the former has received a great deal of publicity and the latter practically none.

A World of Difference

Yet there is a world of difference between the two. CCS is a high-tech, high-risk, costly, and as-yet-unproven approach with no co-benefits. Soil carbon sequestration is a low-tech (but quite scientific), low-risk, inexpensive, and proven approach with a myriad of co-benefits.  The table below compares and contrasts these two distinct methods for reducing carbon in the atmosphere.

Will Soil Carbon Sequestration Work?

I’ve used very conservative assumptions in my report. Projecting forward, I think it is reasonable to expect that an enhancement in recommended management practices (RMPs) could result in the sequestration of close to 10 million tonnes (Mt) of CO₂ per year by 2020. It’s an exciting opportunity and I look forward to the government’s response to my recommendation to investigate and report on soil carbon sequestration’s potential in more detail.

Resources:

For more detailed information on CCS, see the Pembina Institute’s Canadian Primer on the subject at http://pubs.pembina.org/reports/CCS_Primer_Final_Nov15_05.pdf)

For more detailed information on Soil Carbon Sequestration, see the Ohio State University’s Extension Factsheet entitled Soil Carbon Sequestration – Fundamentals, at

http://www.envirothon.org/pdf/CG/carbon_sequestration.pdf

This is the second post in a three-part series. Click to read the first post, Weeds Taking Over Your Lawn? Try Compost.

The soil food web consists of a multitude of creatures, from microscopic bacteria to earthworms and moles (see Figure 1). At the bottom of this web are bacteria and fungi. These microbes form the base of the pyramid of all soil life, and by extension, all terrestrial life. By breaking down organic matter and dissolving minerals for their own consumption, they provide the basis for nutrient cycling in soils. The larger food web organisms, such as protozoa and nematodes, eat the bacteria and fungi, and then excrete many of the nutrients into the soil in plant-available form.

The Soil Food Web (U.S. Dept. of Agriculture)

The contribution of these microbes does not end there. Bacteria and fungi are largely responsible for soil structure. Bacteria secrete glues that bind tiny particles of soil together. The fungi grow threads (called fungal “hyphae” – see Figure 2), which bind these smaller aggregates into larger ones, giving soil its porosity and loose, crumbly structure.

Without a good proportion of both bacteria and fungi, soils tend to become compacted, with less oxygen and reduced water-holding capacity, creating the hard-packed, stressed soils in which weeds thrive.  Since many home owners don’t add organic matter to their lawns and often eliminate the only major source by removing grass clippings, fungi are starved of available nutrients. Bacteria, on the other hand, can thrive under all kinds of harsh conditions. Accordingly, many of our lawns are unbalanced and “bacterial dominated,” deficient in beneficial fungi. This situation constitutes an open invitation to weeds, who are nature’s “first responders” when soils are damaged or stressed. Their job is to grow rapidly, die, and decay, and by doing so increase the organic matter in the soil, so that the fungi can slowly come back into balance. Weeds are by their very nature suited to bacterial soils because they are the first vital step in nature’s long-term remedy for disturbed ecosystems.

Fungal hyphae under a microscope (jollyfarmernursery.com)

By adding compost, we can quicken the process of bringing a damaged turf soil back into equilibrium. Compost raises the level of organic matter in soil, making it better for grasses and less hospitable for weeds. What would ordinarily take nature decades to accomplish, we can do in a season or two with compost.

The ECO would like to see the provincial government supporting the optimal use of compost by helping those who make it and use it to understand how important the biology can be for the compost’s effectiveness. A piece in this year’s Annual Report, entitled “Compost: Understanding Nature’s Sense of Humus,” provides considerable background information on compost’s nature and benefits, as well as some inspiring examples of how well compost works when used within the scientific framework provided by soil ecology.

Watch for the third blog in this series, where the ECO will provide a few practical tips for home owners on how to use compost to effectively control weeds.

First in a three-part series.

(photo by flickr user arimoore)

Ontario’s ban on the cosmetic use of pesticides has made a lot of people nervous about weeds. Letters to editors of the province’s newspapers often carry laments from home owners regarding weed invasions and the despoiling of lovely green lawns, parks and sports fields. Many people are at a loss for how to cope with weeds.

The ECO would like to suggest that the solution is close at hand. The application of well-made compost, with the occasional help of a few additional organic inputs, can reduce weeds to the point where a few minutes of hand-pulling from time to time is all that is needed to maintain a green, healthy, weed-free lawn. This is not a matter of just adding compost and hoping for the best. This is science that works.

The Town of Wolfville, in Nova Scotia, provides a good example. David Slabotsky, who manages the parks, gardens, and recreational sports fields for the Town, had been using organic methods of turf management for years but was still having problems with weeds. After attending a workshop where he heard a scientist talk about the importance of beneficial fungi in turf soils, he decided to get some training in the biology of compost and soil and apply his new knowledge to his job.

Within a couple of years of introducing some new methods, weeds have all but disappeared and the soil in Wolfville’s parks and soccer fields is healthy and productive. David uses no pesticides and only a small amount of organic fertilizer. His main tool for this successful program is well made, mature compost. (Read more about this project, and more, in Compost: Appreciating Nature’s Sense of Humus from this year’s ECO Annual Report.)

With respect to weed control, it is important to realize that not all composts are created equal. In general, for a compost to provide optimum benefit, it must have high levels of microbial diversity (there are millions of different species of microbes in a handful of good compost). Properly made, well-aged composts generally meet this requirement.

For fighting weeds in lawns, however, microbial diversity is not enough. This diversity should include significant levels of beneficial fungi. But what are beneficial fungi, why are they important, and how do you know when there are enough fungi in your compost? This blog is the first of a series on how compost – your own, the municipality’s, or commercially produced product – can be used to develop and maintain a lush, healthy and weed-free lawn.

The next blog will look at the science of soil ecology and how the management of the “soil food web”Âť can provide an effective, low-cost, environmentally superior alternative to the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. The third and last blog will provide some practical tips on how you can apply these principles to your own lawn.

This spring, the ECO found some biochar at a trade show. Biochar is charcoal, a stable form of carbon that will persist in the environment for a very long time, and assist in the biological and nutrient status of topsoil.

Here’s a short video from CNN:

David Nuttle helps us understand how the stuff may help save our planet.

Research by Johannes Lehmann, Ph.D., at Cornell University, has established that the addition of biochar to soils reduces soil acidity, helps improve availability of water for plants, and increases soil microbial activity therby providing natural fertility (thus, reducing the need for most fertilizers). At the same time, the biochar performs a carbon sequestration function benefiting the environment and reducing global warming.

A study that was published recently showed that biochar could offset up to 12% of greenhouse gases. Study co-author Jim Amonette, a soil chemist at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, said:

These calculations show that biochar can play a significant role in the solution for the planet’s climate change challenge…Biochar offers one of the few ways we can create power while decreasing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. And it improves food production in the world’s poorest regions by increasing soil fertility. It’s an amazing tool.

However, he cautioned that

Using biochar to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at these levels is an ambitious project that requires significant commitments from the general public and government … We will need to change the way we value the carbon in biomass.

(For more plain-language coverage of this report, see Science Daily, Ecoseed, Inhabitat and The New Republic.)

Another study showed that biochar reduces nitrous oxide emissions from soil by by 73%, and reduces inorganic nitrogen runoff from fields by up to 94%.  Senior author Bhupinder Pal Singh of Industry & Investment New South Wales said:

“Even small reductions in nitrous oxide emissions can considerably enhance the greenhouse mitigation value of biochar, which is already proven to be a highly stable carbon pool in the soil environment.”

Even Good Morning America is taking notice.

Tim Callahan, vice president of international development at re:char, stopped by “Good Morning America” today to talk about biochar.

“Biochar can be mixed in with your fertilizer, and when you’re planting to increase crop production up to 200 percent,” Callahan said. “As an added bonus 2.2 lbs of biochar offsets the carbon produced from three hours of your washer/dryer, 8.5 hours of a room air conditioning unit, or over two days of watching television.”

Some projects going on around the world:

• Biocharm Project: Biochar for Carbon Reduction, Soil Management and Sustainable Agriculture: A 12 month funded project, [to] look at the possible agronomic benefits which the addition of biochar can have to agricultural systems in South and South East Asia.
• Project on Biochar and African Dark Earths: This project investigates an overlooked dimension of African farmers’ management of soil fertility: the importance of charred carbon in soil systems and landscapes, and its potential contribution to sustainable and equitable land management.

Biochar is charcoal, a stable form of carbon that will persist in the environment for a very long time, and assist in the biological and nutrient status of topsoil.

It is the only possible viable carbon capture and storage technology that has the opportunity to both reduce greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, and enhance the productivity of our soils.

For more information about this company, please see dynamotive.com/

For future ECO reporting on biochar, follow us on Twitter or Facebook.

Most people have some sense of “humus” — the rich, dark, earthy-smelling material found in most top soils and in all well-aged compost piles. Few of us, however, have a real appreciation of its full range of environmental benefits. Even the people whose job it is to find solutions to climate change and other environmental problems often overlook the potentially huge role of soil in general, and soil organic matter (SOM) in particular, in addressing these issues. Soil scientists have had to fight hard to get decision-makers to even consider creating a major role for soil solutions in on-going climate negotiations.

In fact, soils are enormous carbon “sinks”; that is, they are capable of holding large amounts of carbon indefinitely (most of it as humus), reducing atmospheric carbon and mitigating climate change. There is more carbon held in soils worldwide than there is in either the vegetation above ground or in the atmosphere. Furthermore, most agricultural and pasture soils have lost about half of their SOM over the past few decades, so there is ample scope for improvement. Another benefit conferred by organic matter is an increased capacity for holding water, reducing the need for irrigation and preventing flooding and erosion. In fact, the more carbon sequestered in soil, the more water it can hold – a win-win-win scenario for agriculture, the environment, and the economy.

To get an idea of the potential benefits of raising the levels of soil organic matter, let’s consider two close-to-home examples: a football field; and an average urban lawn.

A typical CFL football field has an area of about 4645 m², which is just a bit less than half of one hectare. Assuming a topsoil depth of 30 cm, there are about 1400 cubic meters of topsoil, which weigh about 1700 tonnes. If the folks who manage the field were to add just 17 tonnes of well-made compost (about one large truck load) as a top-dressing to the surface of the football field each year (preferably right after aerating), they would increase the carbon level of the soil by 1% (total dry weight of soil) over a period of 10 years. What does this mean for the environment?

First of all, it means that each year the field would sequester about 6 tonnes of CO₂ (enough to offset the annual CO₂ emissions produced by four average passenger cars). Secondly, each year the field’s soil will have increased its water-holding capacity by about 7 cubic meters, or the amount held by 42 barrels (the big ones they use to ship oil). This is water that does not have to be added to the field via irrigation to keep the turf healthy and green in dry periods. After ten years, when the extra 1% of organic matter has been sequestered, the amount of water-holding capacity will have increased by about 70 cubic meters (imagine a very large tractor-trailer full of water sitting in the middle of the field!). In addition, about 60 tonnes of CO₂ will have been permanently sequestered. These benefits could be realized for at least 50 years for most agricultural fields, parks, recreational fields, and gardens, before maximum organic-matter content would be attained (after which, of course, the benefits can be retained, but not increased).

To accomplish the equivalent soil-carbon increase on your 90 m² (1000 ft²) lawn, you would need to add only 1/50 of 17 tonnes, or 340 kgs (a pick-up truck load). Your lawn would then be able to hold about 4/5 of a barrel more water in its upper 30 cm than it did before. You would also be off-setting about 1/12 of the CO₂ produced by your vehicle, if it is a standard one and you drive as much as the average North American. Since this is so easy to do, you might want to increase your soil’s C-content by twice that rate, so that the percentage goes up 1 point over five years and two points over 10 years. With this simple act, you would be offsetting 1/6 of your car’s emissions (or somebody else, if you don’t drive) and increasing the water-holding capacity by 1 and 3/5 barrels each year.

The benefits don’t stop there. If the turf (football field or lawn) is managed properly, the addition of the compost will preclude the need for commercial fertilizer and pesticides, further reducing the turf’s carbon footprint and eliminating the potential risks associated with pesticide use. Moreover, by supporting the composting industry, you will be helping to create local jobs, boost the economy, and provide stable, long-term markets for the compost produced from your own organic residuals.

All of these benefits, simply by developing a better sense of humus.

Relevant ECO reporting:

• Soil: Our Eroding Asset (2009-10)

Related links:

• The Grass Is Greener at Harvard – Harvard University is going completely organic on their 80 acres using compost and compost tea