Traditional Ways to Sequester Carbon in the Soil

According to experts from Downforce Technologies, using better agricultural techniques to store 1% more carbon in about half of the world’s agricultural soils would allow the absorption of nearly 31 gigatonnes of CO₂ per year. Farmers can sequester more soil carbon by rotating crops, planting cover crops and choosing direct sowing, which allows planting without ploughing. Cattle farmers can improve soil quality by growing more native grasses. Hedges are also great at sequestering carbon in the soil.

According to scientists from the University of Arizona, a centuries-old method of grazing called “adaptive multi-paddock” helps to sequester carbon in the soil. The cattle are grazed like the grazing of wild animals – buffalo, elk and deer, which, thanks to manure and the natural work of their hooves, have built a layer of rich fertile soil on the Great Plains to a depth of 4.5 m. In addition, the soil treated more often by hooves than by machines contains 25% more microbes, has 33% more insect diversity and is home to three times as many grassland birds. Thanks to the spongier soil on AMP farms, the land absorbs more than twice as much rain per hour.

Will fonio, an ancient grain native to West Africa, be the future of the brewing industry? In Burkina Faso and Togo, tchapalo beer is widely known, and the most popular beer at La Maison Kalao, a pan-African brewery near Dakar, is also made from fonio. The grain does not require irrigation, pesticides or fertilisers.