At cropping conferences when soil carbon is discussed, a conclusion usually drawn is that it is not possible to lift levels to a significant extent in a short timeframe. Most scientists contend carbon is a useful factor to consider for agronomy but not for sequestration. But Dr Christine Jones disagrees. She contends soil carbon can be increased quickly for both purposes and that most scientists are using a flawed model to measure carbon.
A soil carbon improvement of only 0.5% in the top 30 centimetres of 2% of Australia’s estimated 445 million hectares of agricultural land would safely and permanently sequester the entire nation’s annual emissions of carbon dioxide. Sequestering atmospheric carbon in soil as humified organic carbon would also restore natural fertility, increase water-use efficiency, markedly improve farm productivity, provide resilience to climatic variation and inject much-needed cash into struggling rural economies.
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