Carbon can be found in several minerals and all living things. It is essential to all life on Earth and involves many activities, such as respiration, photosynthesis, and the carbon cycle. Cultivating the land, rearing cattle, and/or crops for food, fuel, fibre, and other resources is known as farming. It includes various tasks, such as managing livestock, planting and harvesting crops, and maintaining agricultural infrastructure.
Carbon farming combines these two ideas by implementing regenerative agricultural practices that improve soil health and agricultural productivity while restoring ecosystem health. It also mitigates climate change by increasing carbon storage in agricultural landscapes and lowering greenhouse gas emissions. Adopting the approach is simple across a range of agroclimatic zones.
In what ways can carbon farming be beneficial?
Rotational grazing represents a straightforward application of carbon farming. Agroecology, integrated nutrient management, agroforestry, conservation agriculture, livestock management, and land restoration are some more.
Agroforestry techniques like alley cropping and silvopasture store carbon in trees and bushes, further diversifying farm income. Particularly in areas with additional intensive agricultural activities, conservation agriculture strategies, including zero tillage, crop rotation, cover crops, and crop residue management (composting and stump retention), can help minimize soil disturbance and improve organic content.
Integrated nutrient management techniques use compost and organic fertilizers to increase soil fertility and lower emissions. Crop diversification and intercropping are two agroecological techniques that improve ecosystem resilience.
Using livestock management techniques such as rotational grazing, feed quality optimization, and animal waste management can decrease methane emissions and increase the quantity of carbon stored in pasture lands.
Which global programmess are involved in carbon farming?
Globally, but particularly in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, where voluntary carbon markets have developed, carbon trading in the agriculture sector has gained significance in recent years. Some initiatives that encourage carbon reduction in agriculture are the Carbon Farming Initiative in Australia and the Chicago Climate Exchange. The methods include reforestation, pollution control, and no-till farming, which grows crops without disturbing the soil.
World Bank-backed projects such as Kenya’s Agricultural Carbon Project demonstrate how carbon farming can help economically developing nations with food security issues and mitigate and adapt to climate change.
The introduction of the “4 per 1000” campaign in 2015 at the Paris Climate Conference brought attention to the specific function sinks play in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. One needs to carefully manage the approximately 390 billion tons of carbon in the atmosphere and oceans as they approach their saturation peaks.
Governmental Efforts to Encourage Carbon Farming
- The Green Credit Scheme seeks to support and encourage environmentally friendly business methods, including farming.
- NMNF, or the National Mission on Natural Farming, has three primary goals: sustainably raising farm incomes and output, adapting to climate change, and increasing resilience.
