CCRSPI Conference 2011Soils

Restoring Soil Carbon and Landscape Function will Require us to Change Ourselves

David Marsh, Boorowa. NSW

dmarsh1@bigpond.net.au

Looming Clashes

• Increasing fuel costs and scarcity• Increasing input costs• Dwindling biodiversity• Rising human populations•Water issues• A more variable climate

High Intensity Agriculture is Heavily Dependent on Fossil Fuel Energy Imports

Capital in the Landscape

Complex Communities Require 33% of Absorbed Solar Energy to Maintain

Structure and Diversity

The Simplified Agricultural Landscape Requires Annual Inputs of Purchased High Energy Products to Keep it in this

Disturbed Early- Successional State

Humans have been Spectacularly Successful at Diverting the Product of Photosynthesis -this has brought many Benefits, but also has Consequences

Dry Season 1982-83My Decisions Caused This

Landscape Losing CarbonPlanned Grazing in Foreground

3-1-2008

23 mm storm 13 -2-2008

Holistic Management and Planned GrazingMaking decisions that are Socially, Economically and Environmentally sound

Getting Control of Time is Fundamental to good Grazing Management

Plant Communities Like this Make Soila Carbon Sink

Soil with high SOC and 100% cover of living plants and litter, have high LFA

• Higher infiltration rates, lower run-off• Larger mass and diversity of biota•Not susceptible to wind erosion•Lower surface evaporation•Warmer in Winter, cooler in Summer•Higher water holding capacity •Becoming dominated by diverse perennials• Stable productivity, resilient•Higher effective rainfall

14 . 1 . 2011

46 days recovery 158 days recovery

71 days recovery 25 days recovery

8 . 2. 2011

Fenc

e lin

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Community Dynamics49 plant species, 15 of them natives

February 2008

Fungi can pull Phosphorus out of the soil bank and communicate it direct to plantsThey are an important agent in recycling plant material

Plants still Photosynthesising December 2008

Annual Communities stop Growing in Summer

Tree Cover has increased from 3% to 20%Nine years of low rainfall, but no loss of soil cover No feeding of livestock at all

Soil carbon in a 7cm soil test, comparing the effects of planned grazing disturbance for ten years and no disturbance for 14 years in revegetation

Vegetation type pH soil/water %Total Nitrogen % Organic Carbon

7 cm sample

Available Phosphorus

Colwell

Grazed Pasture 5.4 0.34 3.22At BD 1.2 thisis 27t OC/haCO2e =100t

55.1

Grazed Pasture 5.9 0.24 2.76At BD 1.2 this is23.18 t OC/ha85.7 t CO2e

26

Ungrazed Revegetation

5.3 0.17 1.86At BD 1.3 this is16.9 t OC/ha

CO2e=62t

13.8

Ungrazed Revegetation

5.9 0.13 1.97At BD 1.3 this is

17.9 t OC /ha66 t CO2e

11.3

Regenerative FarmingPlanned grazingPasture croppingNo inorganic fertilizeron pasture, some with crop

The traditional approachSet stockingTraditional fertilizingTraditional cropping

82.9% Native perennialsHigh fungi and bacteria

88.1% Exotic annuals

Observations

• We want to change everything, but not change ourselves

•The unspoken assumption behind every proposed solution to the dilemmas that face humanity, is that when the proposed solution is applied we can go on living as we do; but how we live is really the problem

• Relying on GM, modification of rumen function and a bit of other tampering at the edges - is far too simplistic

• The natural world has adapted over the long lapse of ages to an ever changing climate; this is where we should be seeking answers

• Collaborating with innovative farmers early in the development of research programs would be an investment worth making

•Putting serious effort into learning how to practice agriculture without the reliance on fossil energy subsidies is very important right now

We all need to learn to love our landscapes