1
00:00:04,428 --> 00:00:08,288
We hear a lot about climate change 
and carbon dioxide.

2
00:00:08,288 --> 00:00:10,528
What can farmers do about it?

3
00:00:10,528 --> 00:00:14,528
'A lot,' says Australian soil scientist, 
Dr. Christine Jones,

4
00:00:14,528 --> 00:00:18,528
'and get better crops as a result.'

5
00:00:18,528 --> 00:00:20,828
It's all about getting light energy,

6
00:00:20,828 --> 00:00:22,768
transforming it to biochemical energy,

7
00:00:22,768 --> 00:00:25,318
getting that biochemical energy 
into the soil,

8
00:00:25,318 --> 00:00:28,598
to drive the soil ecosystem 
to make nutrients available

9
00:00:29,156 --> 00:00:31,466
Well, the reason that carbon is important

10
00:00:31,466 --> 00:00:33,596
is because all living things 
contain carbon.

11
00:00:33,596 --> 00:00:37,146
So as things live and die,
they give up their carbon

12
00:00:37,146 --> 00:00:40,173
and then something else lives 
and takes up that carbon.

13
00:00:40,173 --> 00:00:42,883
I guess what we're talking about 
with climate change is,

14
00:00:42,883 --> 00:00:45,463
we're talking about that cycle 
getting out of balance.

15
00:00:45,463 --> 00:00:48,153
So, for thousands of years 
it's been in balance...

16
00:00:48,153 --> 00:00:50,330
the atmosphere and the plants,
and the soil,

17
00:00:50,330 --> 00:00:52,287
and all the living creatures.

18
00:00:54,377 --> 00:00:58,059
But in modern times people 
have dug up and burned fossil fuels,

19
00:00:58,059 --> 00:01:00,547
and exposed soil for farming.

20
00:01:00,547 --> 00:01:02,387
In fact, over a third of the carbon

21
00:01:02,387 --> 00:01:04,947
added to the atmosphere since 1850

22
00:01:04,947 --> 00:01:06,817
has come from deforestation

23
00:01:06,817 --> 00:01:11,678
and exposing, and oxidizing
the rich carbon deposits in our topsoil.

24
00:01:11,678 --> 00:01:14,748
U.S. soil scientist, 
Dr. Elaine Ingham, says,

25
00:01:14,748 --> 00:01:17,008
'We can put it back though.'

26
00:01:17,008 --> 00:01:20,078
'And in a way 
so that much of it will stay.'

27
00:01:21,908 --> 00:01:26,989
So, carbon sequestration - 
we're talking about putting CO2

28
00:01:26,989 --> 00:01:30,139
from the atmosphere back into the soil

29
00:01:30,139 --> 00:01:33,859
in a form that's not going to be lost.

30
00:01:35,284 --> 00:01:36,494
How do we do this?

31
00:01:36,494 --> 00:01:39,304
The same way nature did 
in the first place.

32
00:01:39,951 --> 00:01:42,091
We've got to be photosynthesizing.

33
00:01:42,091 --> 00:01:45,001
So, we've got to be 
growing plants in that soil...

34
00:01:45,001 --> 00:01:50,480
So CO2 and sunlight 
will be bound back into sugar structures.

35
00:01:50,480 --> 00:01:53,760
As those sugars go down 
into the root system,

36
00:01:53,760 --> 00:01:57,270
picking up all the nitrogen phosphorus 
sulfur magnesium calcium

37
00:01:57,270 --> 00:01:59,151
from the soil.

38
00:01:59,151 --> 00:02:02,421
Building that plant material - 
the plants are putting

39
00:02:02,421 --> 00:02:04,079
exudates out into the soil,

40
00:02:04,079 --> 00:02:06,249
'cakes and cookies' out into the soil,

41
00:02:06,249 --> 00:02:08,899
and the bacteria and fungi 
utilize that material

42
00:02:08,899 --> 00:02:12,899
and build the organic matter 
back in the soil once again.

43
00:02:15,396 --> 00:02:18,166
Those sugar water exudates are the key.

44
00:02:18,868 --> 00:02:22,868
This photo shows liquid carbon
flowing from a plant root above,

45
00:02:22,868 --> 00:02:25,728
along a fungal hypha or two,

46
00:02:25,728 --> 00:02:27,968
to feed the fungus below.

47
00:02:27,968 --> 00:02:30,478
In exchange for that carbon,

48
00:02:30,478 --> 00:02:33,417
soil microbes, including fungi,

49
00:02:33,417 --> 00:02:36,477
bring water 
or micro nutrients to the roots,

50
00:02:36,477 --> 00:02:39,557
causing the plant to release more carbon.

51
00:02:40,346 --> 00:02:42,323
In order to build that soil carbon,

52
00:02:42,323 --> 00:02:44,896
you have to be looking after the microbial

53
00:02:44,896 --> 00:02:47,357
or supporting 
the microbial communities in the soil

54
00:02:47,357 --> 00:02:49,697
that join all the little 
carbon atoms together

55
00:02:49,697 --> 00:02:51,437
to form humus polymers.

56
00:02:53,116 --> 00:02:56,246
It can't grow as well unless 
those microbes are there.

57
00:02:56,246 --> 00:02:58,756
They won't have as many 
trace elements in them

58
00:02:58,756 --> 00:03:00,236
if those microbes aren't there,

59
00:03:00,236 --> 00:03:03,096
and when the plants don't have 
those trace elements in them,

60
00:03:03,096 --> 00:03:06,906
they become vulnerable 
to insect attack and fungal attack,

61
00:03:06,906 --> 00:03:08,624
pathogens of all kinds.

62
00:03:10,682 --> 00:03:13,392
Finally, we're now seeing 
the light as it is

63
00:03:13,392 --> 00:03:15,722
and realizing that we are like farmers.

64
00:03:15,722 --> 00:03:18,462
And that what we need to do is

65
00:03:18,462 --> 00:03:20,848
to harvest as much 
sunlight energy as possible,

66
00:03:20,848 --> 00:03:23,378
by having as much green leaf as possible.

67
00:03:23,378 --> 00:03:25,532
Therefore, as much 
of the year as possible.

68
00:03:26,715 --> 00:03:29,545
Because photosynthesis drives 
the whole system...

69
00:03:29,545 --> 00:03:32,101
soil should always be covered with plants,

70
00:03:32,101 --> 00:03:34,771
either crop plants or cover crops.

71
00:03:36,117 --> 00:03:38,377
Farmers here in the United States

72
00:03:38,377 --> 00:03:40,640
started experimenting with two-way covers,

73
00:03:40,640 --> 00:03:43,700
and then five-way covers,
and then 10-way covers,

74
00:03:43,700 --> 00:03:46,350
and now they're sort of aiming 
for 20-way covers.

75
00:03:46,350 --> 00:03:50,350
In other words, 20 different varieties
of plants in a cover crop.

76
00:03:50,350 --> 00:03:53,830
And realizing that the more diverse 
they make the cover crop,

77
00:03:53,830 --> 00:03:55,970
the faster they can build soil.

78
00:03:55,970 --> 00:04:00,472
And the more, less reliant 
they are on any chemicals at all.

79
00:04:00,784 --> 00:04:04,004
Farmers are finding 
that building soil biodiversity

80
00:04:04,004 --> 00:04:05,814
builds plant health.

81
00:04:05,814 --> 00:04:07,547
And they're finding they don't have

82
00:04:07,547 --> 00:04:09,497
to use any synthetic fertilizers anymore,

83
00:04:09,497 --> 00:04:12,838
they don't have to use pesticides,
they don't have to use insecticides.

84
00:04:12,838 --> 00:04:15,934
They not only are they producing food 
that's higher in nutrients,

85
00:04:15,934 --> 00:04:19,934
but it's also lower in toxic chemicals.

86
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
And they're taking co2
out of the atmosphere

87
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and storing it in soils.

88
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
We also want resilience in our fields.

89
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Carbon builds 
a good clumpy soil structure,

90
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
holding on to rainwater.

91
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
And the other thing is how quickly 
when the rain does absorb...

92
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
how quickly does it evaporate.

93
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
So when it gets into the soil, 
we want it to stay there.

94
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
So we want to have 
an aggregate send us all,

95
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
aggregates the little lumps 
like pea show clumps in the soil

96
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
that have a much higher moisture content

97
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
on the inside of the aggregate 
than on the outside.

98
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
And we see the greatest increases 
in carbon sequestration,

99
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
through what I call 
'the liquid carbon pathway' -

100
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
when it's being fixed in green leaves,

101
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
transfer powder through the plants

102
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
executed by roots
into microbial communities in the soil,

103
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and forming aggregates,

104
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and leading to the process of unification,

105
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
which is the 'holy grail' for soil,

106
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
to have an increase in humus in the soil.

107
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
So our job, as Dr. Ingham says, is to farm

108
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
so we are working with nature.

109
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
So, don't till. Could we have 
a list of those farmers

110
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
that are no-till or zero till

111
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and really let people know that

112
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
they're the ones doing the work?

113
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
And, as Dr. Jones says, this kind 
of farming is a win for everyone.

114
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
If we can take more of the carbon
that's in the atmosphere

115
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and store it in our soil,

116
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and our soils 
and our food production systems

117
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
are going to be more resilient.

118
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
but we could produce the same meal 
with much higher quality,

119
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
with much lower cost,

120
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and building soil at the same time.

121
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
I think the fundamental shift 
in thinking that we have to make

122
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
is that farming 
is about harvesting light.

123
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Through the process of photosynthesis

124
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
we're going to change light energy
to biochemical energy,

125
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and then that biochemical energy 
becomes our plants, our animals.

126
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
So, you know, 
through the carbon compounds

127
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
that are made by that process.

128
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
We are fundamentally light farmers

129
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and when we make that realization 
then the sky's the limit.