ACTIONS: Build Organic Farms to Soak Up Carbon

Feeling guilty about your last high-flying trip? Thinking about reducing your greenhouse-guilt and offsetting your travel by planting a tree in a far-off forest? But do you wonder whether that tree will really be planted — or what difference it will make if it is? Me, too. That’s why I have a whole new carbon-offset concept in mind: I’m investing in farmers — organic farmers, that is.
What does organic farming have to do with carbon sequestration? More than you might think.
Research from the Rodale Institute, which has been conducting decades-long research comparing organic and nonorganic production, has made a startling discovery: Thanks to cover crops, crop diversity, and composting to build healthy, fertile soil, organic farms are powerful carbon sponges, soaking up as much as 2,000 pounds of the stuff per acre per year. What’s more, the researchers found that the carbon sequestered in the soils of these organic farms is stored as stable organic compounds, meaning it will stick around a long time in the soil, where we want it, rather than in the atmosphere.
The Rodale Institute also found that organic systems use about one-third less fossil-fuel energy than comparable crops on “conventional” farms. Conventional farms actually release carbon into the atmosphere because of their reliance on fossil-fuel–based agricultural chemicals and their destruction of soil quality in the process of growing crops.
These findings mean that organic farms give us a solution for storing carbon right now. Trees can take decades to mature and store comparable amounts of carbon. So, next time you’re thinking about planting a tree as a carbon offset, think about supporting an organic farmer and bury your carbon in the dirt.
For more about carbon offsets and organic farming, check out the Rodale Institute at newfarm.org as well as Carbon Farmers of America at carbonfarmersofamerica.com.

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Anna Lappé is at work on her third book, Eat the Sky, about climate change and the food system.