Breaking New Ground: Carbon Management at the Farm Scale
Submitted by Marie Powell on Mon, 03/26/2007 - 14:07.
Summary:
A report on research into what it takes to get farmers and ranchers to adopt practices that enhance soil carbon. Four factors are most influential: economics, environment, social pressure, and control needs.
Background: This project is about carbon and changing attitudes about carbon. Global warming and climate change efforts focus on sequestering (storing) carbon in the soil as a way to slow down the concentration of carbon dioxide in the air, thus slowing the rate of climate change. Building soil organic matter levels now is important because as the earth's temperature increases the ability to sequester carbon diminishes.
Project Focus: The Center for Rural Affairs approached the Nebraska Environmental Trust with the idea that changing farm practices would have a beneficial environmental impact on soil far into the future. A three-year study was funded in the Lewis and Clark Natural Resources District (NRD) to show the benefits of improved soil carbon and how to incorporate practices to improve soil carbon levels.
Lessons Learned: Much of the project’s work was to learn how and why farmers make decisions about carbon sequestration and farm practices. Based on interviews and observations, we learned farmers and ranchers make decisions based on four main factors: economics, environment, social pressure, and control needs.
The Factors:
Economics is what powers the farm. Without money, the farm would not be able to exist.
Decisions are made to generate cash in both the short and long term. Farmers learned how increased soil carbon levels will affect their bottom line.
The environment plays a big part in the decision making since it is the soil and climate that make production possible. Understanding how crops can continue to be grown while carbon is being sequestered will help farmers adopt crop sequences that satisfy their needs while improving the soil environment.
Social or peer pressure often affects farmers decisions. By working through a group, much of the peer pressure was minimized and the support system created encouraged higher adoption rates.
Farmers and ranchers all need a certain amount of control. How strong that need for control will influence their need to “master” their operation or allow other systems or cycles to dictate what practices are used. The challenge is to understand how these factors interact to produce change.
Read the full report to find out more.
This project was made possible through a grant from the Nebraska Environmental Trust Fund. The author is Center for Rural Affairs' Sustainable Agriculture Specialist Martin Kleinschmit, martink@cfra.org or 402.254.6893.
View this report as a Macromedia Flash Document.
Project Focus: The Center for Rural Affairs approached the Nebraska Environmental Trust with the idea that changing farm practices would have a beneficial environmental impact on soil far into the future. A three-year study was funded in the Lewis and Clark Natural Resources District (NRD) to show the benefits of improved soil carbon and how to incorporate practices to improve soil carbon levels.
Lessons Learned: Much of the project’s work was to learn how and why farmers make decisions about carbon sequestration and farm practices. Based on interviews and observations, we learned farmers and ranchers make decisions based on four main factors: economics, environment, social pressure, and control needs.
The Factors:
Economics is what powers the farm. Without money, the farm would not be able to exist.
Decisions are made to generate cash in both the short and long term. Farmers learned how increased soil carbon levels will affect their bottom line.
The environment plays a big part in the decision making since it is the soil and climate that make production possible. Understanding how crops can continue to be grown while carbon is being sequestered will help farmers adopt crop sequences that satisfy their needs while improving the soil environment.
Social or peer pressure often affects farmers decisions. By working through a group, much of the peer pressure was minimized and the support system created encouraged higher adoption rates.
Farmers and ranchers all need a certain amount of control. How strong that need for control will influence their need to “master” their operation or allow other systems or cycles to dictate what practices are used. The challenge is to understand how these factors interact to produce change.
Read the full report to find out more.
This project was made possible through a grant from the Nebraska Environmental Trust Fund. The author is Center for Rural Affairs' Sustainable Agriculture Specialist Martin Kleinschmit, martink@cfra.org or 402.254.6893.
View this report as a Macromedia Flash Document.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| carbon_report_final.pdf | 53.59 KB |
