Mitigation on the Farm

About 40 percent of the United States is covered by farmland—more than is covered by forests.

As you just learned, plants naturally take in and store carbon dioxide. Plants can help achieve negative emissions—as long as the carbon they pull out of the atmosphere and store does not get released back into the atmosphere.

Think about a forest. A tree's leaves, wood, and bark all contain carbon that came out of the atmosphere. Burning trees returns all of that stored carbon to the atmosphere.
Now think about a farm. More carbon can be stored in soil by increasing the amount of organic material, decreasing how quickly the material decomposes, or both. To prepare fields for planting, farmers cut, lift, and turn over the soil, a process called tilling. This increases the amount of oxygen in the soil, so microorganisms decompose plant matter faster. No-till farming leads to more stored carbon in many types of soils by adding organic material and slowing down the rate of decomposition.

Watch This!

Watch this video to find out how farmers can help mitigate climate change by changing the way they tend their fields. As you watch, pay attention to the benefits of no-till farming. After you watch, respond to the prompts in the Take Notes section below.

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Video Transcript

DAVE LEGVOLD, Farmer: This is 40 years that we’ve been on this farm and I’ve been farming.

NARRATOR: When Dave started working on the farm, he found the soil was in bad shape.

LEGVOLD: It was abused for about 30 years. And I watched my soil washing downhill and leaving my farm, and I thought, “This is not good.”

NARRATOR: On most farms, the soil is tilled, or plowed, to reduce weeds and pests. But in the process, much of the carbon gets dug up and released back to the atmosphere. Dave decided to go another route, called “no-till” farming.

LEGVOLD: Every time you harvest, you leave the residue from that crop in place, so there is a protective blanket on the top of the soil. So, here we have residue left from last year’s corn crop. Corn stalks, leaves, an occasional corncob. Not tilling helped the soil become healthier.

NARRATOR: Despite the benefits, no-till remains an unorthodox method, so Dave has a fair share of neighbors who think he’s a bit crazy.

LEGVOLD: The neighbors look at a no-till field and they say, “Oh, my goodness. How can you grow a crop in that shabby-looking field?” But at the end of the season, my yields are as good or better than the fields that have been tilled.

NARRATOR: Not only is the soil healthier, but it absorbs much more carbon. No-till—combined with other agricultural techniques—could capture more carbon dioxide than is emitted by all of the cars in the U.S.

DAVID MONTGOMERY, Author: We need to fundamentally rethink how we do agriculture, focused on soil building, soil health, putting carbon back in the ground, and if we’re able to do that, then agriculture could be a major contributor to very positive changes related to global climate.

Composting

Even if you live far away from any farmland, you can still mitigate climate change and improve soil by composting. Composting is a way to recycle certain types of natural materials. By mixing materials such as fruit or vegetable scraps, coffee grounds, eggshells, dry leaves, grass clippings, and shredded newspaper with a small amount of soil, bacteria and other decomposers will break down the waste and enrich the soil.

Take Notes

Compare and contrast composting and no-till farming.
Do you know people or businesses in your community that compost? What about your school?
- If you do, what do you think motivates people or businesses to compost?
- If you do not, what do you think could motivate people or businesses to begin composting?