The importance of soil health
Soil provides a fundamental function for life, supporting the basis and foundation of the food chain as well as providing invaluable ecosystem services.
During intensification of UK agriculture, yield, quality and profit became the key drivers for farming practices, resulting in increased inputs as soils were pushed beyond their natural capabilities. Over the past few decades, the general health of farmed soils has deteriorated significantly. Not only has this contributed to a loss of natural resilience to pests, disease and climate change and increased vulnerability to erosion, it has made farming enterprises significantly more susceptible to volatile markets.
Deterioration in the health and structure of soils has now been widely recognised by landowners, policymakers and other key stakeholders and adoption of a more custodian-type approach to soil management is gaining pace.
At Future Biogas, we understand the value of soil organic matter, increasing above and below-ground biodiversity, diverse crop rotations and reduced reliance on artificial inputs onto the land. We promote the principles of regenerative agriculture and growing energy crops as part of food production rotations, which is one of the principal objectives of Project Carbon Harvest.
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Building soil carbon
The definition of ‘soil health’ is continuously debated by scientists, however the importance of rebuilding carbon levels in agricultural soils is unanimously recognised.
Soils can hold significant quantities of carbon, both in the organic and inorganic horizons of a soil profile. Collectively, these are known as the soil carbon sink, i.e., the capacity of carbon that the soil can trap and store.
Understanding the amount of carbon being lost from soil, and how this can be reversed is vital in combating climate change. Organic carbon is largely lost from soils as CO₂, one of the most significant greenhouse gases contributing to global warming.
Introducing anaerobic digestion and sustainable farming practices into an arable production system provides multiple opportunities to help build soil organic carbon and restore the soil carbon sink potential for future generations.
Growing bioenergy crops provides significant diversification opportunities for growers, supporting them to make long-term changes. Anaerobic digestion not only provides an opportunity for change, it also supports the essential transition needed to safeguard food production, protect and enhance the environment and adapt to ever changing demands from market and supply chains.
Our soil carbon strategy
There are an overwhelming number of soil carbon products currently available to farmers in the UK. From carbon calculators all the way through to ever-evolving complex modelling services, accreditation schemes and certificate trading platforms, it’s easy to see how difficult it is for farmers to fully understand their own soil carbon story.
However, our strategy is simple.
We will enable annual modelling of soil carbon based on inputs and techniques used, but we will use a system that allows the use of statistically robust, real data derived from physical sampling and laboratory analysis.
This hybrid approach will allow us to ground truth our models as part of long-term partnerships with our growers. Soil carbon trends develop over many years, and we want to ensure that the data collected is robust and meaningful, and any carbon certificates generated have longevity.
As part of our partnerships, we will provide opportunities for growers to baseline their soil carbon and begin their own unique soil carbon story.
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