Agriculture
and
Carbon:
Impact and potential
These findings underscore that shifts in land use can have dramatic effects on the amounts of carbon retained in the soil. For example, if a farmer transforms a high-altitude grassland into cropland to grow potatoes, there will be a net loss in the amount of carbon retained in the soil and an increase in the amount released into the atmosphere through tillage and the shift to cultivation.
Soil
However, the risks and effects can be mitigated. How?
1. With better adapted crops. For example, CIP scientists are working with farmers and research partners to develop varieties of potatoes and sweetpotatoes that are more resistant to stresses such as heat, pests, and drought. This means farmers can continue to plant them at lower or mid-range altitudes, leaving grasslands at the higher elevations intact for activities such as alpaca or other livestock grazing. 2. With improved crop management techniques. Improved methods are helping to develop farming systems that are carbon neutral or even reduce carbon emissions. Examples include techniques to decrease plowing or increase mulching, or managing water or crops in ways that maximize carbon storage in the soil and minimize its release. 3. With strategies that include financial incentives. Farmers are being encouraged to develop environmental management systems that reduce carbon emissions and establish improved stewardship of the natural carbon sinks where they live and work. CIP and its partners are continuing to work with Andean farmers to implement agricultural strategies that can reduce carbon emissions, increase crop yields, and improve incomes. The methods and findings of this work are relevant worldwide, particularly in other highland regions experiencing increased temperatures and climate change.
International Potato Center (CIP) PO Box 1558 Lima 12 Peru 51-1-349-6017
[email protected] www.cipotato.org CIPs MISSION The International Potato Center (CIP) works with partners to achieve food security and well-being and gender equity for poor people in root and tuber farming and food systems in the developing world. We do this through research and innovation in science, technology and capacity strengthening. CIPs VISION Roots and tubers improving the lives of the poor.
For more information, please contact: Roberto Quiroz [email protected]
Playing a major role in the mitigation of climate change
Previous global accords regarding climate change have not included agriculture. Specifically, they have left out the role of soil carbon sequestration in the mitigation of carbon emissions and the greenhouse effect. This omission has been largely due to the difficulties of measuring soil carbon levels efficiently and reliably. Until recently, such measurements were only possible within the laboratory environment and using sophisticated equipment. But now that has changed.
Agricultu and Soil Carbon ure
Figure 1
Carbon content, measured in petograms (Pg)
How does it all connect?
Soil represents one of the most important storage houses for carbon on earth. It acts as a huge carbon sink, containing more carbon than plants and earths atmosphere combined (see Figure 1). Activities such as plowing the soil for agriculture, deforestation, or the burning of fossil fuels allow carbon to be released into the atmosphere in the form of greenhouse gases. In contrast, appropriate land use, combined with conservation agriculture, reduces the release of greenhouse gases by storing and conserving in the soil the carbon captured by plants. With climate change and warming trends in highland regions, such as the Andes, farmers are facing increased pressures from drought, pests, and diseases that develop in warmer environments. As a result, farmers are moving crops further up the mountains. The tools and methods developed by CIP and EMBRAPA to measure carbon levels and carbon stability in different types of soils and cropping systems have shown that the upward movement of highland agriculture may have a significant impact on climate change. Thus, it is critical to take soil carbonand the role of agriculture more broadlyinto consideration at multiple levels of decision-making and systems management regarding carbon emissions and the mitigation of climate change.
Plants 560
Atmosphere 750
as it offers a prototype of the highly varied types of geology, soil, altitude, climate, and land use found in tropical agriculture throughout the world. The range of areas studied included five major agroecologies: arid coast, arid low altitude, arid high altitude, semi-arid high plateau, and tropical rainforest. Soils were sampled from the main cropping systems within each agroecology, including maize, olive, alfalfa, grassland, potato, grape, and avocado. Carbon levels were measured in samples taken from undisturbed highland soils, farming systems of various types, peat lands, and primary rainforest (a common reference point). The results (see Table 1) revealed that overall, wet grasslands and peat lands represent the greatest (but least stable) carbon sinks, with carbon levels many times those found in rainforest soil. Among the cultivated systems, the soils from alfalfa in the high-altitude interAndean valley and those from shaded coffee areas in the Amazon showed higher levels of carbon compared with those found in the primary rainforest soil. Intercropped avocado, grapes, potato and maize fields showed lower levels of carbon. Olive orchards in the arid coast stock the least carbon. In the arid areas, the amount of carbon in the soil increases at greater elevations.
Table1 Soil use Carbon stocks (Tons/ha-1) 301.7 228.9 91.9 91.3 75.2 68.2 65.2 55.6 42.4 38.1 Wet grasslands - high plateau Peat lands high plateau Alfalfa (under irrigation) Shaded coffee (Amazon) Primary rainforest Avocado (intercropping) Grape Potato Maize Olive
Fossil fuels 4,000
Soils 1,500
Oceans 38,000
Mitigating carbon emissions
New advances developed jointly by the International Potato Center (CIP) and the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA) have made it possible to measure, monitor, and verify soil carbon levels on site. They employ portable devices developed by EMBRAPAAgricultural Instrumentation, using laser-induced optical techniques to measure soil carbon, which can be used in different agro-ecosystems. As a result, we now can effectively monitor soil carbon content and quality in agricultural systems and develop soil protection strategies to mitigate the greenhouse effect caused by the release of carbon into the atmosphere.
Soil carbon variations
Undisturbed soils naturally contain large stocks of carbon but these stocks are unstable and easily lost when cultivated. In cultivated land carbon levels vary considerably across different agroecologies and crops. A project undertaken by CIP, EMBRAPA, and University of Sao Paulo measured carbon levels across a wide range of regions and conditions in southern Peru. Peru is a critical site for climate change measures
and improving lives of poor farmers
Whats more, we can integrate soil management methods within croplivestock systems that benefit farmers, too. The goal is to not only help mitigate climate change but also enhance income generation through a system of payment for environmental services that promotes good land stewardship by poor farmers in developing regions.
International Potato Center
