Contact Ranjit Arab, 785 864 8855 or [email protected].Online at http://www.ur.ku.edu/News/01N/JanNews/Jan22/carbon.html
'Carbon farming' may help put curb on global warming
LAWRENCE -- The secret to reducing the greenhouse effect in the upper reaches of the earth's atmosphere may rest in the very soil beneath our feet, according to University of Kansas researchers.
Through a recent $1 million congressional appropriation spearheaded by Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), scientists in the Kansas Applied Remote Sensing Program at KU will look into ways to encourage farmers to store carbon in their soil as a means of offsetting the emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.
The process, known as carbon sequestration, is accomplished through a variety of methods, including no-till and low-till cultivation, creating composts of small grains, adding hay and legumes to crop rotations, and incorporating trees into farming operations. By adopting these land use practices, farmers can literally "farm the atmosphere," said Kevin Price, associate director of KARS and associate professor of geography.
Farmers face several obstacles to changing current practices, though.
"It requires new equipment that is very expensive," Price said, "and there has not been a financial incentive to use those practices, so the farmers continue to do as their fathers and grandfathers did."
In an attempt to encourage land use that increases carbon sequestration, Congress recently passed a number of bills that offer financial incentives in the form of "carbon credits." In essence, farmers who store carbon will be rewarded with credits that they can save or sell to industry. These industries will need the credits to continue emitting carbon dioxide from their factories.
Before all of this happens, however, there must be an inventory of the land to determine present soil carbon levels and present rates of carbon sequestration.
That's where the researchers in the KARS program at KU come into play.
The Congressional funding championed by Roberts will allow the scientists to use remote sensing technology to view highly detailed maps of the land in the form of satellite images. Unlike traditional field methods, the satellite images can provide an instant look at the land in sections as small as a fifth of an acre at a time.
"Sen. Roberts has been the mover and shaker even at the national level -- not just in Kansas -- for encouraging farmers to prepare for projected climate changes that would influence crop production success," Price said.
Theresa Crooks, a researcher in the KARS program, said that once the carbon credit program gets underway, it will not only provide a financial incentive to farmers, it will also bring them several other benefits.
Higher levels of carbon in soil lessen the likelihood of soil erosion, Crooks said. That in turn makes soils less susceptible to flooding. Other practices, such as keeping crop residues on fields and incorporating trees into farming operations, lead to improved air and water quality, as well as increased productivity, she said.
"If you can quantify an emissions reduction and put a unit after it, you can also put a dollar sign in front of it, and that's the idea," Crooks said. "Even though that seems like a really simple concept, there's a lot of science that has to happen first."
Price described the project as a win-win situation, because it provides a proactive approach -- rather than punitive measures -- to encourage farmers to help improve both the atmosphere and their own land.
"The farmers that I know want to be good citizens and environmentalists," he said. "But they are also pushed up against the constraints of protecting their crops, so this is an opportunity for the farmers to come back and say 'we're really doing something for the environment, too.'"
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