Soil has everything to do with the climate![2] Contrary to popular belief, the largest source of U.S. agricultural GhG emissions is not cow burps! It’s soil management — mostly related to the application of fertilizer (or more accurately, fertilizer that is applied but not taken up by crops) and the breakdown of soil organic matter. With better soil management, we can decrease the emissions impacting our climate.
But that’s not all — healthy soil that’s full of organic matter has incredible capacity to take carbon out of the atmosphere and sequester it in the ground.
Carbon storage is increased by plant growth, which removes CO2 from the atmosphere during photosynthesis, the process in which plants covert energy from the sun into energy stored in the chemical bonds of carbohydrates, which are carbon-based molecules. Net carbon storage can be increased by increasing the amount of photosynthesis, such as by adding cover crops over bare ground, incorporating trees or slowing the decomposition of soil organic matter, such as through no-till practices. Carbon-rich soils are more fertile and hold more water, which improves resilience to droughts and floods.
Agriculture is unique among sectors in its ability to not just decrease its climate impact, but also to sequester carbon to help the climate footprint of other sectors as well.