Australia: Going organic inevitable if Garnaut adopted
Organic farmers claim adoption of their methods will be unavoidable in the future, if the recommendations of Ross Garnaut's final Climate Change Review report are followed.
According to the Biological Farmers of Australia, the report's backing of biosequestration as a "tool with considerable potential" to reduce and store greenhouse gases, endorses organic farming systems.
Biosequestration is a biological process for handling greenhouse gases through growing trees and enhancing soil carbon in agriculture.
Michael Kiely, of the Carbon Coalition, says the fastest way for farms to "turbo-charge" carbon storage is to combine carbon farming techniques within the parameters of organic farming.
"Non-organic farmers can capture large amounts of carbon," Mr Kiely said.
"However, you can turbo-charge carbon uptake in soil if you protect the microbiological community below who manufacture it.
"Any use of toxic substances (e.g. synthetic farm fertilisers, pesticides and insecticides), disrupts this.
"It's about studying soil life, looking for gaps and inoculating the soil with those microbes which are missing."
He said the fastest way for organic farmers to increase soil carbon was to ensure they followed carbon farming principles which include minimising soil disturbance and ploughing.
Dr Andrew Monk, BFA standards chair, says organic producers were looking to employ methods to improve their soil's long-term carbon capture potential.
"The difference being, these methods have been a cornerstone of organic management for centuries," Dr Monk said.
"In its design and implementation, organic works with and not against nature – this has always been one of the primary benefits of organic production, which is only just beginning to get the environmental recognition it deserves."
According to the Biological Farmers of Australia, the report's backing of biosequestration as a "tool with considerable potential" to reduce and store greenhouse gases, endorses organic farming systems.
Biosequestration is a biological process for handling greenhouse gases through growing trees and enhancing soil carbon in agriculture.
Michael Kiely, of the Carbon Coalition, says the fastest way for farms to "turbo-charge" carbon storage is to combine carbon farming techniques within the parameters of organic farming.
"Non-organic farmers can capture large amounts of carbon," Mr Kiely said.
"However, you can turbo-charge carbon uptake in soil if you protect the microbiological community below who manufacture it.
"Any use of toxic substances (e.g. synthetic farm fertilisers, pesticides and insecticides), disrupts this.
"It's about studying soil life, looking for gaps and inoculating the soil with those microbes which are missing."
He said the fastest way for organic farmers to increase soil carbon was to ensure they followed carbon farming principles which include minimising soil disturbance and ploughing.
Dr Andrew Monk, BFA standards chair, says organic producers were looking to employ methods to improve their soil's long-term carbon capture potential.
"The difference being, these methods have been a cornerstone of organic management for centuries," Dr Monk said.
"In its design and implementation, organic works with and not against nature – this has always been one of the primary benefits of organic production, which is only just beginning to get the environmental recognition it deserves."
posted by Farmingshow HQ at
2:30 am
1 Comments:
We all definitely need to keep an eye towards sustainability. How is our behavior going to affect the next 7 generations (as the bible talks about)?
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