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> Carbon Sequestration, Grasses, Trees and No-till Farminig
John Crumrine
post May 22 2005, 01:58 PM
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In one of your updates you mentioned the loss of carbon from permafrost. Loss of carbon by deforestation and intensive tillage of agricultural soils also leads to massive losses of carbon to the atmosphere. What role can agriculture (crops and forests) place in helping to reduce carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere? I understand that if all crops in the United States were planted using no-till methods, it would more than offset many of the emissions from industry and from automobiles. No-till farming is a proven farming method. If the government is supporting the agricultural industry through a variety of USDA payment programs, should not all farmers receiving these benefits be required to perform no-till methods of crop production? I would appreciate your thoughts and the input of your associates!
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Tom_Crumrine
post May 29 2005, 10:05 PM
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Dad,

I wrote a longer reply earlier but I guess I didn't post it correctly. The bottom line of that response was that I didn't know too much about no-till and the correlation between it and global warming gases. I do think that anything the government can do to get back on track in terms of limiting CO2 production would be good. The no-till thing might be a small step but it is a start.

It seems to make sense but I'll have to look into it a little more. I'll try to do that and include more information in another post.

Thanks for the question.

Tom
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John Crumrine
post May 29 2005, 11:03 PM
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QUOTE(Tom_Crumrine @ May 29 2005, 10:05 PM)
Dad,

I wrote a longer reply earlier but I guess I didn't post it correctly.  The bottom line of that response was that I didn't know too much about no-till and the correlation between it and global warming gases.  I do think that anything the government can do to get back on track in terms of limiting CO2 production would be good.  The no-till thing might be a small step but it is a start.

It seems to make sense but I'll have to look into it a little more.  I'll try to do that and include more information in another post.

Thanks for the question.

Tom
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John Crumrine
post May 29 2005, 11:18 PM
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I know a researcher (Ricowski) from Illinois who did research that showed tons of carbon dioxide released per acre from a single 8 inch plowing of topsoil. Tillage injects air into the soil profile and most of the organic material (mostly organic acids) that is added to the soil over the growing season is released (through rapid oxidation)back to the atmosphere from which it came. Lack of tillage (or no-till farming systems) can continue the build up of organic matter through time and "sequester" tons of atmospheric CO2, actually reducing atmospheric concentrations. In addition to no-till, grass crops and trees can do much the same thing. A researcher (Lal) from THE Ohio State University summarized much of this work and testified before some committee of Congress that no-till farming, grass crops added to cropping rotations and conversion of some areas to trees would be of significant benefit to reducing atmospheric levels of CO2. If you are interested in further details, I will try to get you more specifics. Perhaps farmers are one of the keys to helping reduce CO2 in the air, thus helping with the global warming issue.
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