Farmers and Fungi—Climate Change Heroes at the Rodale Institute
Solutions in Action from the Climate 2030 Blueprint
Set amid the gently rolling hills of southeastern Pennsylvania, a little miracle unfolds every day. The miracle workers are microscopic fungi that live inside and around the roots of crops, extending their “tentacles” into dark and secret places. The work they do is nothing short of miraculous: they hold the fabric of fertile soil particles together and simultaneously store carbon.
Located on a 333-acre certified organic farm in Kutztown, Pennsylvania, the Rodale Institute has been studying organic farming methods for more than six decades (Rodale 2009). Of particular interest, the institute has overseen a side-by-side comparison of organic and conventional farming practices since 1981. The longest-running experiment of its kind, this study shows that organic agricultural practices are regenerative—that is, they build the soil. Farmers practicing regenerative organic agriculture plant cover crops, rotate crops, avoid herbicides, insecticides, and industrial fertilizers, and fertilize with composted manure. Done in a smart way, these practices rebuild poor soils, use nitrogen efficiently, and remove carbon from the air and store it in the soil, where it accumulates year after year.
There are several techniques for building up carbon in the soil. The first, and most commonly known, is preventing carbon from escaping the ground as it is tilled. Each time a plow turns over an acre of land, it releases an astounding 45 pounds of carbon. Organic farmers use a number of tillage systems to prevent carbon loss, including not tilling at all.
But the Rodale research has shown the viability of a second, and surprising, technique. Avoiding synthetic fertilizers and herbicides and keeping the soil covered with live plants builds the soil’s organic content, which in turn captures carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and stores it underground.
Enter those amazing fungi. Allowed to flourish, micorrhizal fungi perform two important functions: they help slow the decay of organic matter, and they help soil retain carbon. Chemical fertilizers and weed killers essentially poison these fungi, hampering their carbon-storing ability.
In a world rapidly running out of time to reduce heat-trapping emissions, the promise of organic-style agriculture is welcome news. Implementing regenerative strategies for sequestering carbon requires no new technology or specialized knowledge. That suggests that spurred by the right policies, U.S. farmers could rapidly make the transition.
(For more information, see www.rodaleinstitute.org.)
Reference
Rodale Institute. 2009. On our farm. Kutztown, PA. Accessed on February 2, 2009.
