Soil & Carbon
The process by which CO₂ is removed from the atmosphere and stored in soil.
What is carbon sequestration?
Avoiding synthetic fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides protects soil life and human health.
What is no chemicals or pesticides?
The variety of life in a habitat that strengthens ecosystem resilience.
What is biodiversity?
Integrating animals into pastures to stimulate plant growth and fertilize soil naturally.
What are livestock (or cattle)?
Farmers may experience lower yields during the transition to regenerative agriculture.
What is short-term transition risk?
Healthy soil acts as this “sink” for greenhouse gases.
What is a carbon sink?
Plants grown primarily to protect and enrich soil rather than for harvest are called?
What are cover crops?
The variety of life in a habitat that strengthens ecosystem resilience.
What is biodiversity?
Rotating livestock through pastures mimics this type of natural ecosystem behavior.
What is rotational grazing?
High upfront costs and the need for new skills create these obstacles for farmers.
What are barriers to adoption?
Keeping soil structure intact and reducing erosion is called this.
What is no-till or minimum soil disturbance?
Growing various plants together and keeping soil covered year-round helps build soil organic matter.
What is crop diversity & cover crops?
Encouraging microbes, fungi, and insects in soil supports this critical aspect of plant growth.
What is soil health?
This role of livestock reduces the need for synthetic inputs in regenerative agriculture.
What is natural fertilization?
Lack of this type of understanding is a major barrier to adopting regenerative practices.
What is a knowledge gap?
Practices that increase soil water retention make farms more resilient to drought.
What is maintaining soil health / cover crops / minimum soil disturbance?
No tilling / minimum soil disturbance to keep soil structure intact.
What is no-till or minimum soil disturbance?
Keeping soil covered year-round and planting diverse crops helps sequester this.
What is carbon storage?
Rotational grazing mimics this type of natural behavior in ecosystems.
What is natural herd / ecosystem behavior?
The high cost of new equipment plus lack of knowledge are considered these types of barriers.
What are adoption barriers?
Using deep soil practices and healthy biology to store more carbon underground.
What is soil carbon storage?
Planting legumes or diverse crops to naturally add nutrients to the soil.
What is nitrogen fixation?
Planting many types of crops to support wildlife, soil life, and pest control.
What is functional biodiversity?
Moving animals across pastures to naturally fertilize and improve plant growth.
What is rotational/managed grazing?
Changing from industrial to natural farming methods requires overcoming habits and knowledge gaps.
What is transitioning to regenerative agriculture?