Ploughing releases ancient CO2 so why do we continue to plough virgin soils?

Question

When virgin soils are ploughed CO2 which is has been fixed for thousands of years is released into the atmosphere.

If the total amount of Carbon stored in soil is a much greater than all that of stored in living plants, why plough?

Source: The Earth Care Manual Patrick Whitefield [2004] Permanent Publications

catseyenebula - sorry I couldn't email you. You are right all living things get their energy by respiration. So oxygen is absorbed from the atmosphere and carbon compounds are split into CO2 and water, the CO2 is returned to the atmosphere.

So living things can represent a sink keeping carbon out of the atmosphere but when living things die CO2 is returned to the atmosphere. Part of this, the decomposing bodies, decomposes very slowly and is stored in the soil. So soil is another carbon sink. The total amount stored in the soil organic matter is greater than that stored in living plants in temperate ecosystems. In temperate forests it is about twice as much. Tilling the soil exposes the soil organic matter to oxygen so gretly increases the rate of oxidation, that is the rate at which the decomposing microbes turn organic matter back to CO2 and water as they respire. When virgin soils are ploughed CO2, that has been fixed for thousands of years, is released into the atmosphere.

Repeated tilling of agricultural soils is a constant source of atmospheric CO2.
Worldwide soil carbon is estimated to amount to three times as much as that stored in the vegetation in ecosystems on land. Changing to a minimum/no tillage farming systems would have a significant role in maintaining the carbon sink and the soil.
Whitefield 2004 Earth Care Manual
Miguel 1995 Agroecology, the science of sustainable agriculture
Kourik 2004 Designing and Maintaining your Edible Landscape naturally
Renee 1992 Saving the Seed
Crop Genetic Resources in Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture FAO 1998

Answer 1

That's a good question.

The symbiotic relationship between humans and domesticated crops is a complex one, and it's hard to say who benefits more from the arrangement....

In a sense, *any* farming activity can be viewed as "mining" the soil, to one degree or another.

Nearly all important crops are "annual" plants; over time, they have been adapted and selected to grow best in disturbed soils, in monoculture type operations. I think you'll find that most crops will produce very little in unplowed virgin soils, and wouldn't be able to compete with incidental native plants and weeds.

The modern farming paradigm emphasizes productivity above all else, at the expense of other considerations such as water use, disease resistance, hardiness, year-after-year sustainability, and least of all, soil conservation. Even taste and nutrition content tend to go out the back door......As a result, modern crops have an unusual ability to exhaust the soil.

In my opinion, Americans tend to grow crops the same way they grow their front yards. Cover it all with grass monoculture, then, whenever there is a problem, just throw money, water, and chemicals at it, rather than perhaps considering other options...

I guess what it really comes down to, is do you want your crops to be super productive, or do you want them to be hardy, friendly, and sustainable?

In any case, humans have been farming for thousands of years; what we haven't been doing is burning millions of tons of fossil fuels.

I think it would be a far simpler matter to replace all passenger cars with electric ones, build wind turbines everywhere, and make solar heating standard in homes,(for example) than it would be to overhaul the entire modern farming system....

(Note: technically, only *temperate* soils tend to contain more carbon than do living plants. Generally, in moist, *tropical* regions, organic material decays so quickly that the majority of carbon and nutrients actually are contained in living plants. Of course, if you want to plow in those areas, you have to start slashing and burning first......)

Answer 2

Here is a good argument for plowing virgin soils. A lot of people don't know this, but the United States (going up into Canada) use to have locust plagues. As a matter of fact they are the worst locust plagues of anywhere on earth, even worse than the ones in Africa.

That was back in the 1800's. Well, gold was discovered. So along with the gold prospectors, came settlers. The settlers plowed the land, and planted crops.

Therory is that the settlers plowed up the locust eggs...because never again was there a locust plague like that in the U.S. or Canada.

Here's a link to a story about it:
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/explorer/webpost.html

So in parts of Africa, they might really bennifit from plowing up virgin land.

As for the U.S. plowing up virgin land, I really don't see that. The cost expence involved with getting virgin ground ready for planting is simply too much. Farmers produce more food, on less acerage, because of improvements in plant types, and certain farming methods.

Plowing up virgin land means too much broken equipment on thick roots and rocks. It also means YEARS of rock picking, as a new crop of rocks will turn up, each time the soil is plowed.

Although, frankly they might HAVE to start plowing up virgin soil, if farms keep getting sold off, and having subdivisions built on them!

In general, I agree with you about not plowing. I just thought the whole locust thing was interesting, and a good reason why people might WANT to plow.

~Garnet
Homesteading/Farming over 20 years

Answer 3

I will answer why we should not plow.

Why people plow is quickly answered the only reasons i can think of is fear of the unknown,in Mexico they say if you don`t you get lots of bugs,exactly they do not know that bugs are good ,so the reason is ignorance.

And they think it is easier to control the weeds and less work,whilst the opposite is true,so ,misplaced laziness .

And people spend a lot on money on diesel ,labor ,and maintenance to destroy the place .
so misplaced economic thinking as well.

THE SOIL FACTORY
The first meter or so of any give land that is covered in vegetation ,is a factory a living thing where death is transformed in the building basis for life.

Plants die ,leaves fall and the dead material added to wastes of passing visitors,leaves a rich cover of decomposing material that is utilized by hordes of micro organisms,insects and worms,

The worms pump air up and down the soil with their movements and every bodies excrements result in compost ,

This layer of compost takes a lot of material to produce ,one years decomposition account only to a millimeter or so of compost ,so it is precious.

The layer of mulch protects the soil from drying out and subsequent wind or water erosion Ensures humidity that aids the development of worms,And cushions the impact of rain that would otherwise bring the salt to the surface.

Ancient agriculture did know this ,like the Egyptians ,Incas,Aztecs amongst others,and planted with mulch and diverse.

Diverse to prevent soil pollution by a single species also to stop from tiring the soil out ,and to lessen the possibilities of plagues developing,
and now some modern growers,also apply this philosophy,Such as Permaculture,No till and Organic farming.

But far too many do not ,here comes Fred in his big Massey Ferguson ,turning the whole lot over releasing the carbon as you say ,but also killing the whole soil making factory letting it die exposed to the sun ,

The sun dries out the wasteland,the wind blows away the dust (used to be topsoil)billions of tons of topsoil are lost this way

The rain compacts the ground and brings the salt to the surface ,just like the tractor did ,and easily washes a lot of the soil away into the creeks and rivers.

Weeds easily develop. their seeds now ready for germination ,which is counter acted with chemicals adding to the deterioration of the soil quality

The ground is now very porous,takes large amount of water to irrigate,and the wet surface
in the brief time that is is moist, evaporates easily into the air.
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There are alternative ways to grow crops ,with out killing the factory that makes the soil ,conserving humidity ,conserving ground temperatures and safe guarding the precious top soil.

We can follow the concept of NO TILL FARMING planting direct into mulch having first cut the weeds (before they run into seed)but leaving them where they are ,to act as mulch ,maybe even adding more mulch on top.

I have used these big round bales before ,which is beautiful ,you just unroll them and get an instant thick layer of mulch,a 100 yards at the time.

We can also plow with what some call a chisel plow which makes a cut into the ground and has a thick bottom half a meter below the surface ,leaving a plowed tunnel behind ,in which you then plant.

It is also advisable to always leave some trees with bushes as wind breaks and to have areas with part shade ,especially if one has live stock ,
A cow on a hill side and sun can loose more than 15 kilos a day,by sweating in the draft.

Answer 4

CO2 is turned into oxygen by plants, and, last time I checked, animals need oxygen. Many people plough virgin soil because it usually has alot of organic material which means good water retention and it has more nutrients from this decayed matter. I've never heard of this being a real concern for the atmosphere, so I don't know where you heard it from.

Answer 5

"continue to plough virgin soils"? What country are you talking about? There is not very much, if any, "farmable" virgin soil remaining in the US.:)

"Modern day" farming is very expensive, farmers don't want to spend extra money unless they need to. Also, crop yields, compared to plough fields, are lower during the first few years, which scare off many. Hopefully, the amount of no-till farmers will increase, but it will take many years before it becomes the norm.

Answer 6

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Answer 7

Agriculture today is turning more and more to no till or minimum tillage so less and less plowing is being done. It is likely that the plow will become a thing of the past.

Answer 8

Because they are profitable, being rich in minerals, nutrients and nitrates. And because the people doing so care far more about that than any environmental impact they may be having.

Answer 9

CO2 is the same no matter where it comes from. It's a vital part of our ecology. Plants need it to survive.

When you finish high school biology and chemistry you'll understand better.

Answer 10

It is basically the same reason we give every other time we destroy the environment in any way.

Money.