The Carbon Farmers: In Search of the Future of Agriculture

Jean-Martin Fortier, The Market Gardener

In January of last year, I was working at an agricultural conference in California when I came across a workshop that piqued my curiosity - a presentation by successful farms using no-till techniques. I was already familiar with (and excited about) some successful "low-till" farms like Les Jardins de la Grelinette in Quebec, a project of Jean-Martin Fortier (aka The Market Gardener aka The Six Figure Farmer).

Unsure of what I was getting into, I made my way to the workshop space only to discover that it was already packed to the gills with farmers, old and young, all equally curious and skeptical about the subject matter. As I found a tiny nook in which to perch, it quickly became evident that a larger room was needed - many people were still determinedly trying to stuff themselves in, so they eventually just held the doors open so listeners could hear from outside. Suddenly in spite of the sweaty, overstuffed space I felt a chill, as though something powerful and life-changing was about to happen to me, to everyone in that room. And, as instincts so often do, they proved correct.

Several different farmers presented, with wildly different crops, markets and approaches to the practice of no-till. But they had one thing in common: they were deeply concerned about something called soil carbon. As I learned that day, soil carbon is more or less the blood of the earth, an endlessly renewing, yet finite food that keeps the heart of the farm beating. When we talk about the "organic matter" in the soil, we are mainly talking about soil organic carbon, or the proportion of the soil that consists of plants and animals in various stages of decay, as opposed to mineral material. As FutureFarmers puts it, "Soil organic carbon is the basis of soil fertility. It releases nutrients for plant growth, promotes the structure, biological and physical health of soil, and is a buffer against harmful substances."

Carbon-depleted soil (L) is reddish; carbon-rich soil (R) is brown

In that workshop I learned that most farms have soil carbon in the range of 1-4%, whereas undisturbed earth (rainforests and pre-agricultural soil) has more like 10%. I learned that organic farms and conventional ones are often no different from each other in terms of soil carbon. I learned that this precious organic material volatilizes into the atmosphere when exposed to the sun and wind, literally bonding with oxygen to form an all-too-familiar compound - carbon dioxide. But I also learned that this black gold stays put even more easily - as long as plants shade the soil and hold it firmly in their roots.
As long as you never turn the soil over.

As the presentation continued, a palpable tension was developing in the room. People were getting bright-eyed with excitement, looking sideways at each other to gauge whether the feeling was mutual, scribbling furious notes, standing on chairs to record every word with outstretched smartphones. There was not remotely enough time for questions. And yet, with the growing sense of hope, there was also an undercurrent of dismay as everyone in the audience began to settle into an unsettling idea. What had we been doing to the soil organic matter on our beloved organic farms all these years? Was it still possible to feel proud of our organic status knowing that we had beaten the life out of our soil, and turned it directly into a greenhouse gas contributing to climate change?

Paul Kaiser and his family, Singing Frogs Farm

The uneasiness continued until a farmer named Paul Kaiser presented and shattered our paradigm for good. He began with this quote from a 2010 USDA report, “Tilling the soil is the equivalent of an earthquake, hurricane, tornado, and forest fire occurring simultaneously to the world of soil organisms.” A funereal hush descended over the room, as we all silently kicked ourselves for not knowing this, and then he told us his story.

To make it very short, he was out plowing a new field on the tractor one day when he noticed a killdeer screeching at him on every pass. Upon dismounting from the tractor and examining the freshly turned earth, he discovered not only her nest but millions of chopped up earthworms, snakes, mangled bee hives and numerous other beneficial farm animals he had just destroyed. And so Paul decided there had to be a better way, and stopped tilling. Fortunately he and his wife both had experience with soil health and permanent beds from their education and time in the Peace Corps, so it did not take them long to develop and fully embrace a new system. And, they began to see major benefits so quickly that there was no reason not to.

Within three years Paul's farm had become so efficient, productive and ecologically balanced that weeds, pests and disease virtually disappeared (so spraying ceased), soil organic matter increased to 9%, the farm's per-acre gross income increased to more than $100k (10 times that of most farms in California including vineyards), irrigation was reduced to just a few hours each week, and the 8-acre farm became home to a record 45 nesting pairs of bluebirds. I could write about Paul's farm for hours (since I attended another standing-room-only workshop he did the following year) but I hope readers will visit Singing Frogs Farm to get their grain "straight from the horse's mouth". Nevertheless, here are some basic nuts and bolts of their approach as I understand it:

• They keep the soil covered all. the. time. If for some reason a bed can't be planted right away, they'll cover it with heavy, reusable black cloth to prevent weeds from growing.
• All beds are permanent and raised, maintained as needed by shoveling soil from the pathways onto the beds and topdressing with compost at each planting.
• They transplant as much as possible, and everything is inter-planted. For example, every row of a long-season crop like tomatoes will have short-season crops like lettuce planted on either side. This is to maximize space, increase biodiversity, and keep the soil covered at all times, and means that, at minimum, 1/3 to 1/2 again as many crops are harvested from the same space. Crop rotation becomes irrelevant/unnecessary with such high biodiversity.
• When a crop is harvested, the stem is cut at the soil line and the roots are left in the soil to decompose and be eaten by worms and soil microbes (turning into - you guessed it - soil carbon). A new crop is usually planted between the roots of the last one within 24 hours.
• All work except turning the compost pile is done by hand, by permanent year-round staff who are well-paid. Compost is sourced locally from surrounding towns/neighborhoods.
• Because the soil in the beds is very deep, rich and soft, it acts like a sponge for both heat and moisture. This extends the harvest season so dramatically that they are able to harvest all year-round, even in a cool area with only 120 frost-free days.
• The driverows originally used for tractor turnarounds have been planted with native woody shrubs, which attract birds, snakes and beneficial insects that eat crop pests. (Herbaceous annuals, on the other hand, attract pests.) The elimination of crop pests in turn eliminates a major vector for disease transmission.

 

 

Carbon-rich soil in Paul Kaiser's fields

Probably, like any good grower, you are reading this with a hefty dose of skepticism, and I applaud you for your due diligence - but, if things are going to change, it's time to talk about how. If we're worried about climate change, we need to start considering ways of growing food that use less water, less fossil fuels, and actually sequester carbon in the soil. We have been told that agriculture is a big part of our carbon problem - but it could be a solution too. According to Thomas Goreau, biogeochemist, carbon expert and President of the Global Coral Reefs Alliance, "Supply-side approaches, centered on CO2 sources, amount to reshuffling the Titanic deck chairs if we overlook demand-side solutions: where that carbon can and should go. CO2 cannot be reduced to safe levels in time to avoid serious long-term impacts unless the other side of atmospheric CO2 balance is included."

In other words, if we don't take advantage of powerful carbon sinks like the soil, our weak efforts to reduce emissions simply won't matter. And the soil IS powerful - it currently locks up more carbon than the atmosphere, plants and animals combined - and that's with 50-60% of its carbon already lost to agriculture and development. Estimated conservatively, soil restoration in all degraded ecosystems has the potential to store up to one-third of our current annual emissions from fossil fuels. Put another way, we would need to sequester 3lbs of carbon per square mile over 14 million square miles to reduce carbon levels to pre-industrial levels - it's a big job, but doable. There may be a historical precedent for tillage, but regenerative, no-till agricultural systems will be essential to mitigate climate change now and in the future.


More no-till resources:
Paul Kaiser: The Drought Fighter
More Crops Per Drop: No-Till Farming Combats Drought
John Wick: The Carbon Gatherer
Helen Atthowe: Veganic Permaculture
Carbon Farming: Hope for a Hot Planet
Courtney White: The Carbon Ranch
Allan Savory: How to Fight Desertification and Reduce Climate Change