What is Digg?Sponsored by truTV
24 Comments
- pingpants, on 05/30/2009, -2/+10Farmers absolutely should be rewarded for managing natural resources better. Get with the program, Big Ag. Too much farm waste is causing massive dead zones in our natural waterways. Step up your game.
- celticspringers, on 05/30/2009, -1/+4What methods can farmers use to sequester large amounts of carbon?
- kpezzy, on 05/30/2009, -2/+4just wait until the Gov tries to tax carbon
- gilbes, on 05/30/2009, -0/+1How about when every person on this ***** Earth is fed first. Perhaps then would could bother farmers to imprison the element life is based on.
- bizchris, on 05/30/2009, -0/+1http://snr.unl.edu/acs/programs/spec_carbonsequest ...
- ghatid, on 05/30/2009, -0/+1Umm, do "organically" grown plants (as opposed to "conventionally" grown) leave more carbon in the soil because they don't grow as large? We are all carbon-based life forms, and though I am not an expert in plant physiology, I would assume that plants use carbon to build up every single cell...so less carbon would mean fewer cells, thus smaller plants?
- dupems, on 05/30/2009, -0/+1In a way the 'planet' can afford? Believe me idiot, global warming isn't gonna harm the planet. Us, on the other hand...
- Barackalypse, on 05/30/2009, -3/+3Watch to the end, when he gets to the part about making farmers pay for generating emissions. I'm burying this like I bury everything that wants to make the things I need to live more expensive.
- Ugodown, on 05/30/2009, -0/+0I would say a farmer could do three things:
1. Improve land management practices, like converting to no or low tilling methods which cause less soil respiration (CO2 release rate).
2. Grow plants that have a large proportion of below ground biomass to above ground biomass to increase C storage in the soil. Around 45% of any plant's mass is C, all of which comes from the CO2 in the air!
3. Use soil amendments like pulp and paper mill sludge or other industrial byproducts (that meet safety guidelines) as a fertilizer. This also sequesters C by increasing soil organic carbon, and perhaps more importantly avoiding landfilling which causes CH4 (methane) production or even worse, the common practice of incineration. - ICSU, on 05/30/2009, -4/+4sarcasm or retardation?
- freakFlag, on 05/30/2009, -1/+1I live in the midwest, its a place where most of my family live. I'm a farmer by trade but I choose not to, personal reasons I suppose. My family was absolutely affected by the dust bowl in the 1930's, at that time there was no overall authority researching proper field management so every farmer did as they pleased.
My grandfather still tells the story to this day of how his Mother, Father, Brother and Himself survived the horrible conditions. The story had much more influence on me than I had ever thought. His Mother and Father uprooted their family ties from Virginia and moved to the plains, which at the time were (we now know) unusually wet resulting in bountiful crops. The soil remained wet enough that it was not prone to wind erosion. In early 1930, the wet period ended in Spring, every farmer (including my great-grandfather) had plowed under the reminents of wheat turning the soil into fine dust. The rains stopped and the wind replaced it, the wind would pull the dusty soil from the top soil and blow it away. They depended on an aquafer for water, as they tapped it for a crude form of irrigation, the water evaporated.
In 1935, the Federal Government stepped in and started local programs to purchase the little goods farmers could produce at prices that were higher than they could sell at local markets. The food (cattle included) were destroyed if it was unsafe for human consumption. These programs were a God-send as it helped our family avoid bankruptcy.
In 1933 the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) was created by Roosevelt to plant a huge tree line running from Canada to Texas. The group's local branches also assisted farmers in soil conservation techniques such as crop rotation and contour plowing.
That was a brief time in history that my family survived. My point is simple, before people step up and start saying what's good for farmers, they should start their campaign with organizations in the Midwest. San Fransisco, although a great hub for organic farming, doesn't know jack about the hardships of farming land the size of counties, sorry to say it. - cliffzdude, on 05/30/2009, -1/+1I too grew up in the Midwest, my Mother and Father were raised on farms - I was not. I was the son of a man who worked in "big-ag", a phrase that makes me laugh and at the same time cringe. The new way to point at business as a problem is call them "big-something", and its better if the "something" is shortened, to make it sound like the world is so comfortable with them being vilianous, its become shorthand to refer to them as such.
Anyway, as the son of a "big-ag" guy, I grew to know one thing about small and big corporate farmers. They'll produce whatever the ***** the market wants them too, they'll change their practices instantly if they can still pull in a profit. We don't need to point at big operators and "tax" them per se, we need to put out carrots for good carbon management. If we don't, what will happen is we'll be taxing them in January, and give them handouts in August when things are *****. Doesn't make sense. The idea of organic farming is really awesome - my family buys and east a lot of organically grown products, but if you realize how much production falls when you produce say organic wheat - it starts to get a bit scary. Farmers are business people, and far more technolically advanced than most realize. From GPS units that steers a combine to minimize miles driven to harvest 10,000 acres of corn, to satellite imagery,temp/humidity readings from the ground and air, and chemical samplings all taken daily, stored in vast databases - all allowing farmers to maximize yield while minimizing fuel spent, and chemicals sprayed.
That said, such technological and methodology change should come from a Purdue University - rather than columnist and activists. Put the goal out there to reduce carbon emissions, and increase carbon sequestering. That's very good, but let the agricultural scientists work out the details. - safetybreak, on 05/30/2009, -0/+0For those interested in learning more, check out Joel Salatin of Polyface farm (www.polyfacefarms.com). His book "Salad Bar Beef" is especially relevant. Using his own farm as an experiment over the years, he's figured out that you can get more "cow days" (the amount of food required to feed 100 cows for a day) from grazing them on carbon-sequestering vegetation like grass/clover/etc than from grain feed. Not only does this produce the highest quality beef possible, but with proper land management can make an incredible impact on CO2 levels in the air. My explanation doesn't do him justice so check him out.
- Ugodown, on 05/30/2009, -1/+0There are lots of greenhouse gas emissions associated with making chemical fertilizers. Yes, bigger plants sequester more carbon... "Organic" could still mean fertilized with a natural fertilizer.
- safetybreak, on 05/30/2009, -1/+0What ugodown said. Chemical fertilizers are petroleum based and their carbon footprint includes all the transportation required to produce the final product and to ship it to conventional ag. Organic farming (especially smaller scale/sustainable) is more likely to use a highly intensive management system to produce all related fertility needs on-farm.
- MayorMcCheapo, on 05/30/2009, -2/+1This is INSANELY AWESOME. Please watch and digg up!
- tonyjorb1337, on 05/30/2009, -2/+1Use more paper.
- FAT_PIGGY, on 05/30/2009, -6/+4Global Warming Spam!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- MSP1, on 05/30/2009, -3/+1If you can't live in a way the planet can afford, you should be priced out of existence. It's evolution in action.
- bradleyland, on 05/30/2009, -5/+3Sounds like an excellent use of the funds spent on carbon credits.
Where's Al Gore now? - piratebr0adcast, on 05/30/2009, -4/+1My parents own some farmland in Mississipi, and Ive recently become interested in A) using it in a geek way and B) hopefully making some $$
- scamper22, on 05/30/2009, -5/+2Carbon! The most toxic of all elements.
Fear me! I am Carbon Man. I release carbon with every breath!
My body is protected by a barrier composed of 20% carbon! I cannot be defeated.
I am more powerful than Galactus. I slowly devour your planet by turning into a desert wasteland.
Hahahahaha.
You poor humans. I have already raised your temperature by a degree celcius. Soon you will feel my wrath.
I have created an army of carbon spewing minions. They roam the Earth hidden in the shadows and the light.
We cannot be defeated.
Try as you might, I cannot be defeated. I was created as the twin of Apocalypse in Egypt. His schemes are nothing to mine. For I traveled to the future acquiring the knowledge of atoms. Upon which, I traveled back in time to the very origins of humanity. You were like little amoebas in a sea of goo. I altered your genetic material and planted the seeds of carbon within you. All good things must come to an end humans. And now, you are composed of my very essence.
Hahahahaha.
If you try and defeat me, you will end up killing yourself. Victory is mine. - n1eb, on 05/30/2009, -12/+8Man-made global warming is a lie. Liberals use it as a tool to separate you from your liberty.
- RiotHeart, on 05/30/2009, -7/+1Why farmers should be in the business of fudging pigs?
