Dr. Sally Brown tells the story of a recent ‘meta-analysis’ – or a study of the studies -- of the impacts on soil carbon of organic farming. Sally, a University of Washington professor, writes a regular column in BioCycle magazine.

The study scanned the available data to estimate the difference in carbon storage in soils from organic versus conventional farming techniques.

And here’s the take-home message:  Widespread application of organic practices globally, including compost and manure addition, would store meaningful amounts of carbon in the soil – about 370 million tons a year – removing about 3% of the greenhouse gas pollution burden we are currently adding to the atmosphere each year.  There is no silver bullet to knock out the climate change monster; we need a solutions portfolio, and it should include organic farming practices.
 

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