The real dirt on carbon farming

Soil carbon’s role in reducing Australia’s carbon dioxide emissions is critical to the federal government’s plan for the nation to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

Estimates based on CSIRO data suggest that between 35 million and 90 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent could be stored annually through soil carbon sequestration – drawing carbon from the atmosphere and storing it in the earth.

With Australia currently emitting around 500 million tonnes of CO2 a year, it means that the ground beneath us is predicted to take up to 20% of the burden of reducing the country’s carbon load.

Is it a realistic expectation of our soil and the farmers who will be at the forefront of sequestration?

“No, unless we actually do something about giving farmers those technologies to achieve that,” says Dr Michael Crawford, chief executive officer of the Cooperative Research Centre for High Performance Soils (Soil CRC).

Read the full article from the Newcastle Herald