The Farmer’s Stand

Issue Date: 2010-01-22

Barbara Johnstone Grimmer

“It’s the fastest way to sequester carbon, collect solar energy, and rebuild soil. Grazing is truly amazing.” - Joel Salatin, Virginia farmer and author

I tried to ignore the headlines a few years ago about cows contributing more to global
warming than cars – and waited for the smoke to clear and the data to settle itself out. It didn't
make intuitive sense, and when I was forwarded an email last week that insisted Gulf Island farms
would need to get rid of cows and sheep and our pastoral life to combat climate change, that hit a
little too close to home. The impacts attributed to livestock are based on incomplete information,
since it is often forgotten that we are dealing with a system of interrelated biological processes.
Efforts to stop global warming have been focused almost entirely on reducing emissions caused by
man, not in taking existing carbon out of the atmosphere (a process known as carbon
sequestration). Scientists are trying to unscramble the omelette and get the whole picture, while
policy makers point fingers, but it is a race against time.
According to BC's 2007 GHG (greenhouse gas) Emissions Inventory, transportation is
the biggest emitter in our province at 36%. Agriculture is down at 3.4%, with 1% attributed to
enteric fermentation by ruminants (cows mostly), and 0.5% to manure management. The world
picture is different, with 10-14% of human-caused ghg from agriculture. But that is just the
emissions, and the carbon cycle is just that – a cycle. Our forests, oceans and grasslands are carbon
sinks, acting to absorb carbon. Although not included in most of the carbon-counting schemes,
scientists have long been aware of grassland’s ability to capture or “sequester” carbon. The FAO
made a presentation to COP15 requesting the inclusion of grasslands in carbon accounting,
especially notable since 70% of the world's agricultural lands are pasture and grassland. Grass
takes in carbon dioxide from the air, converting it to sugars by photosynthesis. Some of the
resulting carbon compounds are transferred to the roots and released into the soil through the
normal cycles of growth and decay. Cows on a grass diet produce more methane than those fed on
cereal grains, but grasslands more than compensate. Some pasture plants, such as bird’s-foot
trefoil, are known to reduce methane emissions. There are soil bacteria that oxidize methane as
well. .The grass takes in carbon from the atmosphere; the animals trample the grass into the soil,
where the carbon is absorbed; new grass sprouts and the process is repeated over and over again,
absorbing more and more carbon. This management system has been attributed to African game
rancher Allan Savory, who observed that soil is healthiest and best able to absorb carbon when
grasslands are managed in a way similar to the natural cycles created by huge herds of hoofed
animals feeding on and trampling grasses for short periods and then moving elsewhere to avoid
predators. Savory calls his method “Holistic Management”, and it is successfully practised by
many ranchers in BC, and in other regions of the planet.
Converting croplands to pasture, which reduces erosion, effectively sequesters
significant amounts of carbon. Grazing reduces the need for the fertilizers and fuel used by farm
machinery in crop cultivation. Compared to cropland, perennial pastures used for grazing can
decrease soil erosion by 80 percent and markedly improve water quality. According to the UN,
“there is growing evidence that both cattle ranching and pastoralism can have positive impacts on
biodiversity”. By improving our grasslands, improving our soils and our agricultural methods, and
replenishing our forests we can do much to increase the uptake of excess atmospheric greenhouse
gases, while reducing their emissions.
The idea of soil sequestration is still under the radar, according to Soil Science Professor
Chuck Rice of Kansas State University, a member of the IPCC panel who directs a joint project of
nine American universities and the U.S. Department of Energy studying the potential for reducing
greenhouse gases through agricultural practices. Because there is more carbon stored in the soil
than in the atmosphere, improvements in managing the carbon in the soil would make big
differences in the atmosphere. By adopting a wide range of carbon sequestration strategies,
ranging from planting more trees to cultivating crops using sustainable and no-till agriculture
(which minimizes plowing) to raising animals on grasslands instead of feedlots—more problems
than climate change could be solved.
Dr. Jan Coulter, a scientist and farmer in Scotland, was curious about her farm's carbon
footprint, and produced her own software for farmers to calculate their own carbon footprint, and
it is available free online as Cplan. Other countries have produced software, and the Canadian
version – Holos – is currently being tested by various associations and farmers across Canada. I
tried out Holos, putting in our own farm's data and Stats Canada data from the 2006 Census on
Agriculture, specifically for the southern outer Gulf Islands (Mayne, Galiano, Pender, Saturna and
their accessory islands). In the outer Gulf Islands, we had 89 farms according to the 2006 census
– almost 3000 ha attributed to farming; 1299 ha of that pasture, 251 ha hay, 365 ha crop, and 1054
ha forest. We had 454 cattle and calves, 1447 sheep, 89 goats, 2526 poultry. Even without
counting the sequestering effect of the farms' forests, the effect of livestock was negated by the
carbon uptake of the land. Not only can our farmers relax at the fact that we are balanced and
carbon neutral, but there is room to use our farms in sequestering carbon and perhaps provide some
solutions for the future. The Holos program gives suggestions on what changes could be made on
your farm to improve carbon storage and reduce emissions. Improvements of 40-80% can be
achieved by planting trees, reducing animal stocking rates and reducing nitrogen fertilizer.
Smaller improvements (20-40%) can be achieved by improving the diet of livestock, improving
nitrogen efficiency, manure management and changing the farm's cultivation practices. Farmer
testimonies have been positive – the programs are simple to use, and give the farmer a concrete
value for his farm's emissions and sinks, suggestions to improve the net result that are both
reasonable but also profitable in the long run. Farmers can make slight changes using the program
and model “what if” situations for their own farm. Further improvements to these programs are
ongoing.
Viewing the world holistically will allow us to see that the best way to fix climate change
is to involve the earth in the solution. The best way to unscramble the omelette is to feed it back to
the hen, and let her lay a new egg. We certainly can't do it alone.

“If farmers are empowered by knowing and understanding how their own carbon footprint is
calculated they will be in a better position to influence policy and implement change without it
being imposed upon them.” Dr. Jan Coulter, developer of Cplan