Healthy Soil Stores More Terrestrial Carbon Than Anything On Earth

HEALTHY SOIL STORES MORE TERRESTRIAL CARBON THAN ANYTHING ON EARTH‍

Healthy soils play an important role in climate change mitigation by storing carbon (carbon sequestration) and decreasing global greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere. However, if soils are managed poorly or cultivated through unsustainable agricultural practices, soil carbon can be released into the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide (CO2), which can contribute to climate change. Our soils are under increasing pressure and the steady conversion of grassland and forestland to cropland and grazing lands over the past several centuries has resulted in historic losses of soil carbon worldwide. 

By restoring degraded soils and adopting soil conservation practices, there is major potential to decrease the emission of greenhouse gases from agriculture, enhance carbon sequestration and build resilience to climate change. California Safe Soil and the award-winning Harvest to Harvest products represent a new breed of fertilizer and soil health offerings that feed the soil and mitigate climate change.

SOILS AND THE CARBON CYCLE

The carbon cycle is the exchange of carbon (in various forms, e.g., carbon dioxide) between the atmosphere, ocean, terrestrial biosphere and geological deposits. Most of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere comes from biological reactions that take place in the soil. Carbon sequestration occurs when carbon from the atmosphere is absorbed and stored in the soil.  

This article was derived from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations