The real value of carbon – South East Farmer – Dick Neale
Dick Neale, Hutchinsons’ Technical Manager, shares his views on the best way to measure and manage carbon in a realistic way ...
Soil management, carbon and the potential impact on the environment is front and centre of discussions at the moment.
Net zero objectives for the industry, together with the increasing marketing power of carbon neutrality across many sectors that our industry supplies, are bringing carbon within soils into sharp focus and, frankly, not before time.
Carbon’s real value
As growers we cycle carbon from the air, from the soil, from fuel, fertiliser, and inputs we apply to crops. The commodities we produce are fundamentally a concentration of that carbon in a different form. Trading carbon credits is largely a distraction from the benefits that increasing carbon in our soils brings to an individual business. Soil structure, porosity, water and nutrient storage and release are all improved by maintaining carbon in soils, both as longer term soil organic carbon (SOC) and active carbon that supports the functionality of soils in the crop growing cycle.
Soil carbon is now at critically low levels in many soils, manifesting itself as stagnation in yields, reduced resilience to climate extremes, increased nutritional costs, erosion and increased power requirements for cultivation.
The evidence has been accumulating for many years, with Rothamsted Research showing the impact of nutrient levels needed to maintain yield at differing percentages of organic matter (OM) within soil; the higher the OM percentage, the lower the index needed to maintain yield.
Other research shows a 60% reduction in crop biomass in arable soils only metres from the field edge, reflecting the impact of soil degradation via continuous cultivations and applied fertiliser which overrides the soil’s natural cycles and microbial populations.
Hutchinsons has been measuring and assessing soils via its Healthy Soils service since 2016. This service helps growers identify issues and focus management changes to improve their soils while avoiding the pitfalls that significant soil management changes can bring.
UK soils are highly variable in their texture, with more than three textural classes often present within a single field. Simple broadacre management changes are therefore often ineffective or detrimental in some textural classes when being targeted at the largest textural area.
New technologies like TerraMap allow us to map the finer details in high definition. Now we can visualise more accurately than ever before not only textural changes but pH, nutrient content and, more recently, OM%, total SOC and active carbon, allowing the broadacre changes to become small in-field adjustments that are becoming ever more effective via tractor and machinery variable control technology.
Our latest development within Omnia is the potential to map carbon emissions with individual fields, after allowing for all inputs and operations, which gives us the opportunity to identify where small changes in management practices can have a large impact upon the carbon footprint.
WANT TO KNOW MORE?
Thursday 24 February 2022, from 9am to 1.30pm, Peterborough Marriott Hotel, PE2 6GB
Hutchinsons’ National Carbon Conference aims to tackle some of these very issues and give a clearer perspective on managing farm carbon and outline practical next steps you can take.
Click here to find out more or to reserve your FREE place
Space will be limited, so we recommend that you book early to secure your place!
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