Veni Vidi Vici! - Well, not exactly, but close enough! ;-) Seth's notes on the UN Food Systems pre-Summit
1 view
Skip to first unread message
Seth Itzkan
Jul 31, 2021, 2:06:00 PM7/31/21
to Soil Age
Veni Vidi Vici! - Well, not exactly, but close enough! ;-)
SETH'S NOTES OF THE UN FOOD SYSTEMS PRE-SUMMIT - GOOD NEWS FOR REGEN GRAZING
So, I have to say, in addition to simply being in Rome for any reason (other than to face the Inquisition), the UN Food Systems pre-Summit was a joy to be at and I feel met, even exceeded, my expectations of what could be expected for soil, and, particularly, holistic grazing, advocacy. Most people that I spoke with got it that restoring soil carbon is essential and that even livestock - when managed properly - play an essential role in it.
I was honored to be on a team including Daniela Ibarra-Howell, CEO of the Savory Institute, that authored a 2-page position paper titled Grazing for Soil, Climate and People, which is now an official part of the proceedings, and will be part of the narrative moving forward to the main Summit in NYC in the Fall.
The full paper and two others on livestock are available on the Sustainable Livestock "solution cluster" page and the paragraph that I wrote personally, titled "Soil Carbon and Climate," is reproduced here, below. I am happy for your comments on any of these items.
Yours in Service,
Livestock, when managed for soil health, can play a vital role in mitigating climate change by stimulating grassland plants to sequester carbon. Indeed, the coevolution of ruminant ungulates and perennial grasses over the past 19 million years is believed to have resulted in the sequestration of 596 Pg C (petagrams / gigatons of carbon) into newly formed mollisols leading to the Cenozoic Cooling (which enabled climate conditions suitable for human evolution) (1). The management of livestock for ecological as well as social and economic benefits is referred to in literature as Holistic Planned Grazing (2) (3) and Adaptive Multi-Paddock (AMP) Grazing (4). Grazing of this type has been found to sequester carbon in soil at the following levels: 1.2 tons carbon per acre per year (tC/ac/yr) (5), 1.5 tC/ac/yr (6) and 0.93 tC/ac/yr (7). Teague (2016) calculates the drawdown potential for AMP grazing in North America alone is 0.79 gigatons of carbon per year (GtC/yr). To put this into context, 0.79 GtC is 44% of yearly US greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which is 6.5 billion tons CO2e based on the EPA GHG inventory for 2019 ( 8 ). Worded even more simply, nearly half of all US GHG emissions could be offset by enhancements in Northamerican soil carbon using regenerative grazing. These elevations in soil carbon concentrations are coupled with other improvements in rangeland ecology, such as increases in nitrogen stocks (9), soil moisture (10), and fine litter cover and forage biomass (11).
Endnotes:
1. Retallack, G. (2013). Global Cooling by Grassland Soils of the Geological Past and Near Future (Vol. 41, pp. 69–86): Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences.
https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-earth-050212-124001
2. Hillenbrand, M., Thompson, R., Wang, F., Apfelbaum, S., & Teague, R. (2019). Impacts of holistic planned grazing with bison compared to continuous grazing with cattle in South Dakota shortgrass prairie. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 279, 156–168. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2019.02.005
3. Dowhower, S. L., Teague, W. R., Casey, K. D., & Daniel, R. (2020). Soil greenhouse gas emissions as impacted by soil moisture and temperature under continuous and holistic planned grazing in native tallgrass prairie. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 287, 106647. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2019.106647
4. Teague, W. R., Apfelbaum, S., Lal, R., Kreuter, U. P., Rowntree, J., Davies, C. A., R. Conser, M. Rasmussen, J. Hatfield, T. Wang, F. Wang, Byck, P. (2016). The role of ruminants in reducing agriculture's carbon footprint in North America. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation, 71(2), 156-164. doi:10.2489/jswc.71.2.156 http://www.jswconline.org/content/71/2/156.full.pdf+html
5. Teague, W. R., Apfelbaum, S., Lal, R., Kreuter, U. P., Rowntree, J., Davies, C. A., R. Conser, M. Rasmussen, J. Hatfield, T. Wang, F. Wang, Byck, P. (2016). The role of ruminants in reducing agriculture's carbon footprint in North America. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation, 71(2), 156-164. doi:10.2489/jswc.71.2.156 http://www.jswconline.org/content/71/2/156.full.pdf+html
6. Stanley, P. L., Rowntree, J. E., Beede, D. K., DeLonge, M. S., & Hamm, M. W. (2018). Impacts of soil carbon sequestration on life cycle greenhouse gas emissions in Midwestern USA beef finishing systems. Agricultural Systems, 162, 249-258. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308521X17310338?via%3Dihub
7. Rowntree JE, Stanley PL, Maciel ICF, Thorbecke M, Rosenzweig ST, Hancock DW, Guzman A and Raven MR (2020) Ecosystem Impacts and Productive Capacity of a Multi-Species Pastured Livestock System. Front. Sustain. Food Syst. 4:544984. doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2020.544984 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2020.544984/full
8. EPA (2021), Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-2019
https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/inventory-us-greenhouse-gas-emissions-and-sinks
9. Mosier S, Apfelbaum S, Byck P, Calderon F, Teague R, Thompson R, Francesca Cotrufo M, Adaptive multi-paddock grazing enhances soil carbon and nitrogen stocks and stabilization through mineral association in southeastern U.S. grazing lands, Journal of Environmental Management, Volume 288, 2021, 112409, ISSN 0301-4797, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112409
10. Dowhower, S. L., Teague, W. R., Casey, K. D., & Daniel, R. (2020). Soil greenhouse gas emissions as impacted by soil moisture and temperature under continuous and holistic planned grazing in native tallgrass prairie. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 287, 106647. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2019.106647
11. Hillenbrand, M., Thompson, R., Wang, F., Apfelbaum, S., & Teague, R. (2019). Impacts of holistic planned grazing with bison compared to continuous grazing with cattle in South Dakota shortgrass prairie. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 279, 156–168. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2019.02.005
--
soil4climate.org | soil4climate.org/donate
facebook.com/groups/soil4climate
twitter.com/soil4climate | instagram.com/soil4climate/
SETH'S NOTES OF THE UN FOOD SYSTEMS PRE-SUMMIT - GOOD NEWS FOR REGEN GRAZING
So, I have to say, in addition to simply being in Rome for any reason (other than to face the Inquisition), the UN Food Systems pre-Summit was a joy to be at and I feel met, even exceeded, my expectations of what could be expected for soil, and, particularly, holistic grazing, advocacy. Most people that I spoke with got it that restoring soil carbon is essential and that even livestock - when managed properly - play an essential role in it.
I was honored to be on a team including Daniela Ibarra-Howell, CEO of the Savory Institute, that authored a 2-page position paper titled Grazing for Soil, Climate and People, which is now an official part of the proceedings, and will be part of the narrative moving forward to the main Summit in NYC in the Fall.
The full paper and two others on livestock are available on the Sustainable Livestock "solution cluster" page and the paragraph that I wrote personally, titled "Soil Carbon and Climate," is reproduced here, below. I am happy for your comments on any of these items.
Yours in Service,
- Seth
Soil Carbon and Climate
PARAGRAPH SEGMENT FROM "GRAZING FOR SOIL, CLIMATE AND PEOPLE" 2-PAGE POLICY PAPER INCLUDED IN THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE UN FOOD SYSTEMS PRE-SUMMIT, ROME, JULY 26-28, 2021
Soil Carbon and Climate
PARAGRAPH SEGMENT FROM "GRAZING FOR SOIL, CLIMATE AND PEOPLE" 2-PAGE POLICY PAPER INCLUDED IN THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE UN FOOD SYSTEMS PRE-SUMMIT, ROME, JULY 26-28, 2021
Livestock, when managed for soil health, can play a vital role in mitigating climate change by stimulating grassland plants to sequester carbon. Indeed, the coevolution of ruminant ungulates and perennial grasses over the past 19 million years is believed to have resulted in the sequestration of 596 Pg C (petagrams / gigatons of carbon) into newly formed mollisols leading to the Cenozoic Cooling (which enabled climate conditions suitable for human evolution) (1). The management of livestock for ecological as well as social and economic benefits is referred to in literature as Holistic Planned Grazing (2) (3) and Adaptive Multi-Paddock (AMP) Grazing (4). Grazing of this type has been found to sequester carbon in soil at the following levels: 1.2 tons carbon per acre per year (tC/ac/yr) (5), 1.5 tC/ac/yr (6) and 0.93 tC/ac/yr (7). Teague (2016) calculates the drawdown potential for AMP grazing in North America alone is 0.79 gigatons of carbon per year (GtC/yr). To put this into context, 0.79 GtC is 44% of yearly US greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which is 6.5 billion tons CO2e based on the EPA GHG inventory for 2019 ( 8 ). Worded even more simply, nearly half of all US GHG emissions could be offset by enhancements in Northamerican soil carbon using regenerative grazing. These elevations in soil carbon concentrations are coupled with other improvements in rangeland ecology, such as increases in nitrogen stocks (9), soil moisture (10), and fine litter cover and forage biomass (11).
Endnotes:
1. Retallack, G. (2013). Global Cooling by Grassland Soils of the Geological Past and Near Future (Vol. 41, pp. 69–86): Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences.
https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-earth-050212-124001
2. Hillenbrand, M., Thompson, R., Wang, F., Apfelbaum, S., & Teague, R. (2019). Impacts of holistic planned grazing with bison compared to continuous grazing with cattle in South Dakota shortgrass prairie. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 279, 156–168. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2019.02.005
3. Dowhower, S. L., Teague, W. R., Casey, K. D., & Daniel, R. (2020). Soil greenhouse gas emissions as impacted by soil moisture and temperature under continuous and holistic planned grazing in native tallgrass prairie. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 287, 106647. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2019.106647
4. Teague, W. R., Apfelbaum, S., Lal, R., Kreuter, U. P., Rowntree, J., Davies, C. A., R. Conser, M. Rasmussen, J. Hatfield, T. Wang, F. Wang, Byck, P. (2016). The role of ruminants in reducing agriculture's carbon footprint in North America. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation, 71(2), 156-164. doi:10.2489/jswc.71.2.156 http://www.jswconline.org/content/71/2/156.full.pdf+html
5. Teague, W. R., Apfelbaum, S., Lal, R., Kreuter, U. P., Rowntree, J., Davies, C. A., R. Conser, M. Rasmussen, J. Hatfield, T. Wang, F. Wang, Byck, P. (2016). The role of ruminants in reducing agriculture's carbon footprint in North America. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation, 71(2), 156-164. doi:10.2489/jswc.71.2.156 http://www.jswconline.org/content/71/2/156.full.pdf+html
6. Stanley, P. L., Rowntree, J. E., Beede, D. K., DeLonge, M. S., & Hamm, M. W. (2018). Impacts of soil carbon sequestration on life cycle greenhouse gas emissions in Midwestern USA beef finishing systems. Agricultural Systems, 162, 249-258. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308521X17310338?via%3Dihub
7. Rowntree JE, Stanley PL, Maciel ICF, Thorbecke M, Rosenzweig ST, Hancock DW, Guzman A and Raven MR (2020) Ecosystem Impacts and Productive Capacity of a Multi-Species Pastured Livestock System. Front. Sustain. Food Syst. 4:544984. doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2020.544984 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2020.544984/full
8. EPA (2021), Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-2019
https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/inventory-us-greenhouse-gas-emissions-and-sinks
9. Mosier S, Apfelbaum S, Byck P, Calderon F, Teague R, Thompson R, Francesca Cotrufo M, Adaptive multi-paddock grazing enhances soil carbon and nitrogen stocks and stabilization through mineral association in southeastern U.S. grazing lands, Journal of Environmental Management, Volume 288, 2021, 112409, ISSN 0301-4797, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112409
10. Dowhower, S. L., Teague, W. R., Casey, K. D., & Daniel, R. (2020). Soil greenhouse gas emissions as impacted by soil moisture and temperature under continuous and holistic planned grazing in native tallgrass prairie. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 287, 106647. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2019.106647
11. Hillenbrand, M., Thompson, R., Wang, F., Apfelbaum, S., & Teague, R. (2019). Impacts of holistic planned grazing with bison compared to continuous grazing with cattle in South Dakota shortgrass prairie. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 279, 156–168. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2019.02.005
Seth J. Itzkan
Join the global movement of scientists, practitioners, and engaged citizens working to make soil a climate solutionsoil4climate.org | soil4climate.org/donate
facebook.com/groups/soil4climate
twitter.com/soil4climate | instagram.com/soil4climate/
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages