Reproduced, with permission, from Good Day! Magazine, published by theNational Grange. “Granges Can Become Part of Regenerative Agriculture Movement”, by Ray Seidler; Vol. 4, Issue 3, Fall 2020, pp 24-25.

Recently, as Sean O’Neil wrote so aptly in the last Quarterly issue of this Good Day! Magazine, “action must be taken on climate change in all sectors of the economy, including agriculture.” Since the Kyoto Protocol of 1997 where nations first agreed in principle to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, global energy-related CO2 emissions have actually increased 50%! Attempts at reducing global CO2 emissions have, unfortunately, not been successful.

In late 2019, the prestigious U.S. National Academy of Sciences announced, “to achieve goals for both climate stability and economic growth, ‘negative emissions technologies’ (NETs) that remove [and] then store carbon dioxide from the air will need to play a significant role in mitigating climate change.”

Regenerative agricultural practices are ‘negative emissions technologies’ (NETs). And now is the time for land owners to respond to this call and become a part of the solution to help mitigate global warming — and at the same time, reap numerous benefits from increased soil health on their property.

NETs from regenerative agriculture have already been in place, albeit on small scale, for many years. However, there have been barriers to adopting regenerative soil practices at the large scale. Farmers, especially during these times of economic hardship, are reluctant to adopt what could be perceived as “new” practices that might not work. This was confirmed by a recent (March, 2020) United Nations online survey of nearly two thousand ranchers and farmers, which revealed that the first barrier listed as an impediment to adopting NET practices is lack of knowledge on how to do it, and secondly, insufficient financial incentives to “try something new.”

What is regenerative agriculture?

It’s simple, really - NETs like regenerative agriculture remove carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere and transform it through photosynthesis into plants, trees and later into beneficial soil organisms. The good news is that storing the carbon dioxide from NETs in the form of soil organic matter has the same impact on the atmosphere and climate as simultaneously preventing an equal amount of carbon dioxide from being emitted. Recent analyses have found that deploying NETs may be less expensive and less socially and politically disruptive than most of the changes recommended over the last 20 years, which have often been difficult to implement.

Regenerative agricultural practices that help a landowner achieve an increase in SOM are well known: minimize physical soil disturbances to decrease the rate of decaying plant residues on and in the soil, and maintain a green plant cover (eg., use of winter and/or spring cover crops) over the soil for as many months/year as possible. These practices physically protect soil from the natural forces (wind, water runoff) that cause topsoil erosion, and also allows for root exudates to continuously feed beneficial soil organisms. By utilizing living or dead plant residues, instead of burning, tilling or plowing, the soil life is provided with a food source year-round, and above and below ground biological diversity (variety of life forms) is increased as diverse cover crop species, crop rotations, and intercrop plantings are incorporated into the plan. When possible, it is also helpful to increase diversity through livestock which can add to the landowner’s income.

Why should farmers care about storing organic matter in soil?

The SOM is what helps to make the soil look and smell “rich.” The carbon in the air transforms life in the ground beneath our feet first through photosynthesis then later, through plant decomposition, and this increases SOM. The more diverse the microbial and other soil food web life, the more sustainable, functional, healthy and resilient the soil. We should care about regenerative agriculture and SOM because of all the amazing agronomic benefits we receive in return for minor changes in land practices. The physical practices (plowing, tillage) and chemicals used in industrial agricultural processes (pesticides, mineral fertilizers) damage biological processes and activities, and impede formation of SOM present in healthy soils and this has been known for decades.

Here are the main benefits from increased soil organic matter:

1. Improved soil texture (tilth) to better absorb moisture and prevent runoff and loss of topsoil.

2. The USDA says a 1% increase in SOM results in 25,000 gallons of added available soil water storage per acre, a critical consideration for areas experiencing water shortages.

3. According to Ohio State University scientists, for every 1% weight increase in SOM in deficient soil, there is a corresponding 12% increase in crop yield. Although this increase in SOM may take 3-5 years to achieve, each year there is an incremental yield increase.

4. SOM is “fuel” for sustaining beneficial soil life, including beneficial microbes. SOM promotes beneficial relationships between soil life and plant roots, thus stimulating plant growth and protecting plants from pests.

5. In healthy soil, 1 teaspoon of soil can contain a billion microorganisms plus other soil life, and even higher densities of microbes grow in intimate association with plant roots to protect and stimulate plant growth.

6. Soil organic matter and soil microbes “free up” generally unavailable soil minerals such as N,P,K, sulfur, and micro nutrients, naturally fertilizing plants over the growing season.

7. USDA estimates that mineral availabilities derived from 1% SOM in a deficient soil provides a value of about $600-$750 per acre because it adds up to approximately 1,300 lbs. of mineral nutrients;

8. SOM plus surface plant residues modulate temperatures, protecting roots from extreme high and low temperature fluctuations and extending the crop growing season.

9. With elevated SOM and healthy soil ecosystems, farm and ranch products may have added financial value;

10. Land owners own the carbon in the SOM on their land. The value of this carbon is currently estimated at around $15/ton of CO2 equivalents in the U.S. marketplace.

11. Annual carbon returns to soil vary greatly with location and agronomic practices used. For crops employing regenerative agricultural techniques, annual accumulation of soil carbon ranges from approximately 0.25-2 tons/ac. For more diverse ranching/farming situations, rates may increase to 5-7.5 tons/ac and more.

Marketing soil carbon

All soil marketing programs are voluntary. There are carbon marketplaces around the world to help qualify, register, and verify tons of carbon created by land owners and stored in their soils. Two such carbon removal marketplace companies are NORI and Indigo Carbon, but there are others.

Benefits to land owners for participation in the carbon removal marketplace include: generation of healthy soil (items 1-11 above); third-party independent verification of the carbon content in the soil that can be correlated with specific ranching or farming practices (what works, what doesn’t); obtaining a potential price premium on livestock and/or crops and of course, receiving financial incentives for the tons of carbon stored in the soil. The timing for payment will be determined by the carbon marketplace companies. These are relatively new, dynamic, evolving programs and details of the programs, costs, and qualifications, minimum acres, etc, may change.

So where does the money come from for land owners? Purchasers of soil-stored green house gas (ghg) carbon can be large corporations that want to offset (reduce) or eliminate their net ghg emissions, or people who want to “eliminate” or cancel their individual carbon footprint. For instance, a typical American’s annual carbon footprint is 16 tons of CO2equivalents. (Most of the rest of the world’s carbon footprint is around 4 tons/person.

When you or I provide just $240 to cover ‘our' 16 tons of soil carbon ($15 X 16 tons) through NORI or Indigo Carbon, for example, we are offsetting our entire years’ worth of personal ghg emissions. Our money provides the incentive for an approved land owner to implement practices to help reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide emissions — which benefits all of us.
Bottom line: our ranchers and farmers receive support for producing our food and fiber, and at the same time, they also receive our financial appreciation for keeping their soil healthy, and helping to mitigate effects of a changing climate.

Nonprofit organizations and private citizens are helping us at Cultivate Oregon to sponsor an online symposium on all these topics to educate attendees about the agronomic and financial benefits of regenerative agriculture. “Enabling Regenerative Agriculture: Getting Paid for Improving Soil Health” is an exciting online event that will bring together policy makers/educators from three state agencies, the carbon marketplace, farmers, and scientists. Save the date! The symposium will be held November 10th and 17th, 2020, at 5PM. For more information please see: soilsymposium2020.org

We thank our Ashland Bellview Grange #759 members, Oregon State Grange, the Oregon State Grange Foundation, Our Family Farms, Southern Oregon Climate Action Now, Shop'n Kart, Ashland Co-Op, Emerging Futures, Southern Oregon Pachamama Alliance, Southern Oregon Food Solutions, and all of our generous sponsors and individual donors.