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  Twenty percent of agricultural management effects on organic carbon stocks occur in subsoils – Results of ten long-term experiments

  Agricultural management can influence soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks and thus may contribute to carbon sequestration and climate change mitigation. The soil depth to which agricultural management practices affect SOC is uncertain. Soil depth may have an important bearing on soil carbon dynamics, so it is important to consider depth effects to capture fully changes in SOC stocks. This applies in particular to the evaluation of carbon farming measures, which are becoming increasingly important due to climate change. We sampled and analysed the upper metre of mineral cropland soils from ten long-term experiments (LTEs) in Germany to quantify depth-specific effects on SOC stocks of common agricultural management practices: mineral nitrogen (N) fertilisation, a combination of N, phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) fertilisation, irrigation, a crop rotation with preceding crops (pre-crops), straw incorporation, application of farmyard manure (FYM), liming, and reduced tillage. In addition, the effects of soil compaction on SOC stocks were examined as a negative side effect of agricultural management. Results showed that 19 ± 3 % of total management effects on SOC stocks were found in the upper subsoil (30–50 cm) and 3 ± 4 % in the lower subsoil (50–100 cm), including all agricultural management practices with significant topsoil SOC effects, while 79 ± 7 % of management effects were in the topsoil (0–30 cm). Nitrogen and NPK fertilisation were the treatments that had the greatest effect on subsoil organic carbon (OC) stocks, followed by irrigation, FYM application and straw incorporation. Sampling down to a depth of 50 cm resulted in significantly higher SOC effects than when considering topsoil only. A crop rotation with pre-crops, liming, reduced tillage and soil compaction did not significantly affect SOC stocks at any depth increment. Since approximately 20 % of the impact of agricultural management on SOC stocks occurs in the subsoil, we recommend soil monitoring programs and carbon farming schemes extend their standard soil sampling down to 50 cm depth to capture fully agricultural management effects on SOC.
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  ACCELERATING CARBON FARMING Joint 4 per 1000 Initiative / European Parliament webinar 8 Sept 2021

  ACCELERATING CARBON FARMING How to make Carbon Farming a Success for Climate, Environment and Farmers ? The Green Deal has been marked as the new economic strategy of the Union. It is changing our overall legislative framework to allow the deployment of technologies and unlock the investment that will make possible carbon neutrality, and a new model of prosperity. Agriculture and farmers have an essential role to play since this is the one of the few sectors that has the ability to shift from a net emitter of CO2 to a net sequestered of CO2. As part of the European Green deal, a series of initiatives can become true game changer: the reform of LULUCF regulation, the Carbon Farming initiative and the regulatory framework for certifying carbon removal. If we design the framework right, carbon farming can create a new profitable business model and support the transition. The European Green deal offers an opportunity to build a transition profitable for all: farmers would be able to get money for their contribution to climate mitigation, and also additional support to enhance their capacity to stock carbon in farmland, which is ultimately needed if we are serious about being carbon neutral by 2050. This is how we will bring everybody on board with the transition. During this panel, each speaker is asked to discuss the following questions: - How to ensure than carbon farming actually delivers the expected outcome in terms of climate mitigation and biodiversity protection on one side,and on farmers’ additional revenues on the other side? - How the carbon market, and at which price, can incentivize properly farmers? - How to ensure permanence of action in order to secure lasting climate action? - Who would be liable for the proper management and maintenance of agricultural practices benefiting the climate? (And more) Speakers: Mr. Pascal Canfin - Chair of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI Committee) Mr. Norbert Lins - Chair of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI Committee) Mr. Christian Holzleitner - Head of the Unit Land Use & Finance for Innovation (DG CLIMA.C.3) at DG CLIMA (Directorate General Climate Action) Ms. Claire Chenu - Director of Research Coordinator of EJP Soil "European Joint Programming Co-fund on Agricultural Soil Management" Member of the Scientific and Technical Committee of the "4 per 1000" Initiative Ms. Anne Trombini - Director "Pour une Agriculture du Vivant - Pour une Agriculture du Vivant" Ms. Léa Lugassy - Scientific Coordinator "Pour une Agriculture du Vivant - Pour une Agriculture du Vivant" Ms. Margaret Kim - CEO "The Gold Standard" Mr. Georg Goeres - Head of Europe "Indigo" Mr. Quentin Sannié Founder & CEO "Greenback"
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  Soil organic carbon sequestration in temperate agroforestry systems – A meta-analysis

  Soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration by improved agricultural practices is an acclaimed strategy to combat climate change. Nevertheless, the aim of increasing of SOC encounters limitations, e.g. with regards to permanence of carbon storage or leakage effects in food production. Agroforestry systems (AFS) are a promising land use option that is able to sequester substantial amounts of SOC while addressing these challenges. With a focus on temperate climate zones worldwide, available information on SOC in AFS was reviewed to determine their SOC sequestration potential and respective controlling factors. From a total of 61 observations, SOC sequestration rates in soils of AFS were derived for alley cropping systems (n = 25), hedgerows (n = 26) and silvopastoral systems (n = 10). The results showed that AFS have a potential for substantial SOC sequestration in temperate climates. SOC stocks were higher in the topsoil (0–20 cm) than in the control in more than 70% of the observations, and higher within the subsoil (20–40 cm) for 81% of all observations, albeit large variation in the data. The mean SOC sequestration rates were slightly higher at 0–20 cm (0.21 ± 0.79 t ha-1 yr-1) compared to 20–40 cm soil depth (0.15 ± 0.26 t ha-1 yr-1). Hedgerows revealed highest SOC sequestration rates in topsoils and subsoils (0.32 ± 0.26 and 0.28 ± 0.15 t ha-1 yr-1, respectively), followed by alley cropping systems (0.26 ± 1.15 and 0.23 ± 0.25 t ha-1 yr-1) and silvopastoral systems showing a slight mean SOC loss (−0.17 ± 0.50 and −0.03 ± 0.26 t ha-1 yr-1). Moreover, SOC sequestration rates tended to be higher for AFS with broadleaf tree species compared to coniferous species. We conclude that temperate AFS sequester significant amounts of SOC in topsoils and subsoils and represent one of the most promising agricultural measures for climate change mitigation and adaption.
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  Soil organic carbon sequestration in temperate agroforestry systems – A meta-analysis

  Soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration by improved agricultural practices is an acclaimed strategy to combat climate change. Nevertheless, the aim of increasing of SOC encounters limitations, e.g. with regards to permanence of carbon storage or leakage effects in food production. Agroforestry systems (AFS) are a promising land use option that is able to sequester substantial amounts of SOC while addressing these challenges. With a focus on temperate climate zones worldwide, available information on SOC in AFS was reviewed to determine their SOC sequestration potential and respective controlling factors. From a total of 61 observations, SOC sequestration rates in soils of AFS were derived for alley cropping systems (n = 25), hedgerows (n = 26) and silvopastoral systems (n = 10). The results showed that AFS have a potential for substantial SOC sequestration in temperate climates. SOC stocks were higher in the topsoil (0–20 cm) than in the control in more than 70% of the observations, and higher within the subsoil (20–40 cm) for 81% of all observations, albeit large variation in the data. The mean SOC sequestration rates were slightly higher at 0–20 cm (0.21 ± 0.79 t ha-1 yr-1) compared to 20–40 cm soil depth (0.15 ± 0.26 t ha-1 yr-1). Hedgerows revealed highest SOC sequestration rates in topsoils and subsoils (0.32 ± 0.26 and 0.28 ± 0.15 t ha-1 yr-1, respectively), followed by alley cropping systems (0.26 ± 1.15 and 0.23 ± 0.25 t ha-1 yr-1) and silvopastoral systems showing a slight mean SOC loss (−0.17 ± 0.50 and −0.03 ± 0.26 t ha-1 yr-1). Moreover, SOC sequestration rates tended to be higher for AFS with broadleaf tree species compared to coniferous species. We conclude that temperate AFS sequester significant amounts of SOC in topsoils and subsoils and represent one of the most promising agricultural measures for climate change mitigation and adaption.