Charcoal, Agriculture and Climate Change

Charcoal, Agriculture and Climate Change
Richard Haard, Ph. D, Fourth Corner Nursery, Spring Catalog, March 10, 2008

Here is a global issue – our atmospheric carbon cloud. This emerging method for mitigating carbon emissions by burying charcoal needs advocates in order bring sequestration into play along with reductions of carbon emissions. It will take work on all fronts to reduce the carbon in our atmosphere including this rediscovery of
Amerindian agriculture – Terra Preta

Let us first consider the difficulty of conducting farming in the humid tropics of Asia, Africa and South America. In this environment it is very difficult to maintain productive fertility of a farming tract for any length of time because of rapid decomposition rates of organic matter. These Oxisols (a soil classification) are naturally low in calcium and potassium while phosphorus is tied up in a complex with Aluminum mostly unavailable to plants.

Without continuously adding manure, com¬post or chemical supplements this soil type becomes non-productive in 2-3 years and must be turned back to revert to forest for 10 to 20 years before farming can be supported again. Even with this nutritional support 10 years would be a maximum cropping cycle before an extended fallow period.
After recovery of the land the farmer then slashes and burns the accumulated vegetation and repeats this cycle. Hence the term Slash and Burn (Swidden) agriculture. Now prominent scientists are advocating a replacement with a new kind of agriculture - Slash and Char. A growing system that also has advantages in the temperate zone.

See attached file.

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