Soil Regeneration and How it Will Save Our Earth.

When we think of climate change most people think of impending doom. We are putting so much carbon into our atmosphere that the climate is changing and heating up. When we put carbon into the atmosphere the oceans absorb this carbon and this causes ocean acidification. We need to sequester this carbon into the soil. For decades we have been eroding our soil making it unable to hold carbon. The Green Revolution caused a lot of harm to our soil. The adoption of modern agricultural practices such as tilling has eroded our soil into dust. What we need to do is something called regenerative agriculture. Regenerative agriculture consists of 5 main practices, no till agriculture, intercropping, crop residue, integrated pest management, and planned livestock grazing patterns. No till agriculture uses a machine that does not turn up topsoil. It simplly creates a row for seeds and covers it back up. This allows for microbes to thrive and aggregates to form. Intercropping is the cultivation of two or more crops simultaneously on the same field. The most common goal of intercropping is to produce a greater yield on a given piece of land by making use of resources or ecological processes that would otherwise not be utilized by a single crop. This does not deplete the soil and adds nutrients instead. Crop residue, or cover crop, can sequester nitrogen into the soil, manage soil erosion, soil fertility, soil quality, water, weeds, pests, diseases, biodiversity and wildlife. Integrated pest management (IPM) is the use of cultural, physical, biological, and mechanical properties to manage pests. The purpose of IPM is to allow pests onto crops but manage the pests before they overrun a field. This cuts out chemical pesticides and GMOs. The last practice, my personal fav, is planned livestock grazing patterns. This is when farmers have their livestock graze in certain areas for only a few days. After a few day the livestock are moved to graze in another area. This cycle continues for about 9 months and then the cattle are moved to their original location to start all over again. Planned livestock grazing patterns will result in more complete vegetative cover and improved soil structure. The soil then can sequester more carbon from the atmosphere. This is why soil amazes me, we can reverse climate change and save our Earth.