Capturing carbon from the atmosphere and depositing it in the soil is the best way we know to build up agricultural productivity while increasing efficiency. Why not use nature’s systems to help us make the most of our resources?
Conventional agriculture has met the needs of humankind throughout history. In order to ramp up production on our timeline, we have used some methods that worked over the short term, but didn’t necessarily leverage nature’s systems. But hope is not lost—regenerative farming techniques such as no-till, cover crops, diversified crop rotation, and decreased fertilizer input usage can actually reduce the amount of effort expended by farmers, while reducing their fuel usage, and increase the carbon held in the soil where it can help our crops thrive.
That’s why Gevo is all in on regenerative agriculture—we’re not only increasing efficiency in our processes to make our bio-based renewable fuel, but we’re capturing carbon in the soil to continue to improve yield and crop hardiness and reduce erosion.
How Soil Accelerates Carbon Sequestration
All plants naturally take carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and transfer it to the soil through the process of photosynthesis. It’s how trees and other plants provide our atmosphere with oxygen. In farm fields, soil carbon also comes from plant matter like roots or crop residues (corn stalks, husks) that are left on the field.
With 38 percent of the global land surface taken up by agriculture, we need to incorporate regenerative agriculture and soil health practices when we raise our field crops to increase carbon storage within the soil ecosystem. It’s the most efficient way to get more yield from every acre we plant. Here’s how photosynthesis puts carbon into the soil:
- Plants use the energy from the sun to produce sugars from water and atmospheric carbon dioxide.
- Plants use these sugars as energy to support the growth of roots, which adds to carbon to the soil.
- Some of those sugars move through the plant’s roots to the soil as exudates, feeding microorganisms and fungi in the soil.
- Those soil organisms convert soil minerals into plant-available nutrients, which is food for the crop. During this process, the sugars are transformed into more stable materials that contain carbon.
Plants complete this process naturally—however, conventional agricultural practices like overuse of herbicides and fungicides, monocropping, or tillage can upset the delicate balance of the microecosystem responsible for locking carbon in the soil system. That’s where regenerative agriculture comes in.
Regenerative Agriculture Improves Carbon Sequestration
By prioritizing the health of the soil and the holistic systems of the natural world, regenerative agriculture has the potential to improve farm productivity and reduce costs—better efficiency all around
Carbon sequestration in soils is a function of photosynthesis. Soils have a diverse ecosystem where organisms such as bacteria or fungi play a major role in carbon sequestration, however, when the soil is continually disturbed through tillage, there is a negative impact on microorganisms and their efficiency.
Regenerative agriculture continually protects, replenishes, and improves the soil in which crops are grown. Some of the regenerative practices that improve carbon sequestration are:
- Crop rotations
- Cover crops
- Retaining crop residues
- Utilizing manure, compost, and other natural fertilizers
- Integrated livestock management and rotational grazing
- Reducing tillage
- Reducing or eliminating synthetic chemicals that harm soil microorganisms
A healthy soil ecosystem means more resilient plants, higher organic matter, reduced soil erosion, and improved yields—but it also means less carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and that’s a win all around.
Carbon Sequestration: The Bottom Line
Growing efficiency and cutting costs for farmers can be a real benefit for the rural economy that spans America’s Heartland. While Gevo’s bio-based renewable fuel is an alternative to traditional aviation fuel, we’re not stopping there.
Regenerative agriculture is one of the largest opportunities we have as a planet to draw carbon dioxide from our atmosphere, and improve the soil by capturing it underground. It just so happens that regenerative farming is a win-win, growing healthy and abundant crops that have a variety of uses, while reducing our climate impact.
By integrating regenerative agriculture practices into our supply chain, Gevo is building an efficient rural economy that supports both food and energy production.