20 Our Advertisers Appreciate Your Business Better Farming | April 2024 Carbon Sequestration and drop corn seed in, and the corn roots grow through now-dead alfalfa roots, and that carbon stays intact. “What often happens is we have four years of alfalfa and all that carbon in the root mass, and we come in with tillage and break that sod down.” MacLeod says that the introduction of oxygen to soil during tillage increases microbial activity, converting stored carbon back into carbon dioxide and releasing it into the atmosphere. He recommends leaving tillage equipment in storage as often as possible, and if tillage is necessary, using a minimum tillage approach. His three recommendations for maximizing soil carbon are: 1. Minimize tillage wherever possible to avoid disturbing stored carbon. 2. Include perennial forages in the rotation. This is an opportunity to work with livestock producers or take advantage of the forage export industry. 3. Balance soil fertility to maximize biomass production. John Cross of a7 Ranche, near Nanton, Alta., uses a planned grazing program to maximize soil carbon and pasture productivity. “Carbon sequestration is an outcome of healthy plants. If you have healthy plants, you’re likely going to have more carbon in the soil,” says Cross. “So it’s more like working at having a healthy landscape, and a byproduct of that is more than likely more carbon in the soil.” With the holistic planned grazing approach to land management, Cross says it’s essential to commit to it. “We really do it. Lots of people say they do it, but they really don’t,” says Cross. “We have three herds in about 120 pastures with a 60-day recovery period and an average grazing period of a day and a half. What we try to do is have a long rest period and short grazing period. Appropriate utilization is also important. You can have long rest periods and short grazing periods, but if utilization isn’t pushing land enough, you can actually go backwards.” Cross says they have a land description for what they want their system to look like, and then they use planned grazing to achieve that and meet the needs of livestock. It is important to plan, monitor, control and replan as the needs of the land and cattle evolve. They have started working with the Food Water Wellness Foundation in Alberta to measure the carbon in their soil to compare to other management styles and also create baseline measurements of soil carbon in the Prairies. As his properties are resampled over time, Cross believes improving sampling systems will offer producers more opportunities to get paid for the improvements they make to carbon sequestration. “If you can keep sampling and the carbon is still there and you can sample lots of acres, this whole process is now a lot more robust, repeatable, and affordable,” says Cross. “You can improve your land, but it doesn’t improve the value all that much. There are companies looking to buy voluntary carbon offsets.” He says there is still some development needed to ensure the system is reliable and practical for farmers, but this may be a way for producers to see the return for improving their soil. Another way that a7 Ranche has measured improvements to the soil is by calculating animal grazing days per acre. The work that the family has put into improved soil management has yielded increases in productivity. “I took over the ranch in ’86. At that time, the ranch was at about 30 animal Increased soil carbon increases soil water holding capacity and drought resilience. Tracy Miller photo
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