Carbon Farming

📗 日本語で読む: こちらをクリック ⇒ 炭素循環農業

Introduction This site is dedicated to serving a learning community of farmers who share the belief that healthy soil is the foundation of healthy crops. “Carbon farming” largely overlaps “Regenerative Farming” concepts, and is more than a buzzword; it’s a practical and hopeful response to the twin crises of soil degradation and climate change. This page introduces some key ideas behind current regenerative agricultural methods and provides links to deeper dives.

What Is Carbon Farming? Carbon farming refers to agricultural practices that increase the amount of carbon stored in the soil. Unlike conventional farming, which often results in carbon loss, carbon farming turns soil into a carbon sink. This not only improves soil health but also helps mitigate climate change.

Why Carbon Matters Carbon is the building block of soil fertility. Organic matter, microbial life, water retention, and soil structure all rely on stable carbon. Losing carbon to the atmosphere depletes the soil and contributes to global warming. By returning carbon to the soil—and keeping it there—we create long-term benefits for both our crops and the planet.

Core Practices

  1. Minimal Tillage
    Every time the soil is tille, microbial communities are disturbed and carbon is released into the atmosphere as CO2. One of the key tenets of Carbon Farming is to reduce tillage to preserve soil structure, fungal networks and carbon content.
  2. Living Roots Year-Round
    Another major tenet of Carbon Farming is to keep living roots in the ground at all times. Plants capable of photosynthesis feed the microbes and fungi in the soil through their root exudates. Keeping such plants growing ensures the soil ecosystem an uninterrupted supply of the sugars (carbon) needed by the microbial colonies and fungal networks, that then reciprocate by bringing the plants whatever they need. In addition, below ground these roots prevent nutrient leach-off, while the cover above ground shields the soil from the direct sun, preventing the development of hydrophobic soil surface conditions and erosive runoff.
  3. Diversity
    Another tenet of Carbon Farming is that “nature abhors a monoculture. Many proponents of Carbon Farming stress the necessity of a wide mix of plants in cover crops, including native and volunteer species, not just between crop seasons but even to thrive between rows of any particular monocrop. This diversity feeds a healthier array of beneficial microbes to suppress disease pressure in the soil.
  4. Biochar
    The use of biochar is not generally mentioned among the major tenets of Carbon Farming. However, the half life of most organic matter is said to be 7-15 years while the half life of char is 1000 to 2000 years. It follows that the ancient tradition in Japan of pyrolizing rice hulls in the fields (making rice-hull char or kuntan (燻炭) sequesters carbon in the soils for centuries, that would otherwise return to the atmosphere in as little as a decade. Virtually any organic matter can be pyrolized to sequester carbon in the form of charcoal. It is referred to as biochar after it is saturated with microbes and nutrients. Biochar contributes to vibrant microbial populations, healthy soil aggregation, moisture and nutrient retention, soil aeration and healthy drainage.
  5. Avoid Synthetic Fertilizers and Pesticides
    Carbon Farming may not universally rule out the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides but a divers web of microbes and fungi in a healthy soil habitat has been repeatedly shown to reduce the need for such chemicals. This reduces costs while raising yields and nutrition levels of crops.

    6. Explore Each Topic in Depth

    Stay Tuned We are gradually publishing detailed articles on each topic. In the meantime, feel free to browse our Wormhole Blog for informal reflections and field notes.

    Want updates? Bookmark this page or follow us on your next trip to the market.

    📗 日本語で読む: こちらをクリック ⇒ 炭素循環農業