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Most people learn a bunch of this in grade school. And if you are a farmer, or into gardening much, you surely know. But a refresher course is interesting all the same.

"Organizations tackling climate change are getting their hands dirty…literally. It turns out soil has the power to reverse some effects of climate change. At Regrow, a team of scientists, agronomists, engineers, and software developers is working together to empower "food and agriculture industries to adopt, scale and monetize resilient agricultural practices." Using cloud-based crop management and analytics systems, they can provide insight on soil health and develop more sustainable farming practices.

Soil is pretty spectacular. A mixture of air, minerals, water, and organic matter, it is a dynamic, but limited, natural resource. Its organic matter, known as soil organic carbon (SOC), is the primary energy source for soil microorganisms. Comprising between 2 and 10% of soil's mass, SOC affects soil's function and structure. It retains nutrients and moisture and breaks down pollutants. Perhaps most importantly, it helps with soil carbon sequestration, a process of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a greenhouse gas, meaning it absorbs and radiates heat within the thermal infrared range. Essentially, it traps heat in the atmosphere. In the United States, carbon dioxide is responsible for 81% of all manmade greenhouse gas emissions.

Healthy soil can reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide, according to Regrow Chief Strategy Officer Dr. William Salas. A recent article in Applied Ecology supports this claim. Researchers Umakant Mishra et al. studied permafrost conditions—that is areas where ground temperatures of at or below zero degrees Celsius for two or more years—in the Tibetan plateau. In permafrost conditions, SOC stocks are preserved over long periods of time and carbon remains frozen in the soil. However, as temperatures continue to rise, regions like the Tibetan plateau could begin releasing "substantial amounts of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere over long periods of time." Investing in sustainable agricultural practices is simply one way to mitigate these potentially devastating effects of climate change."

[Image description: The soil carbon cycle. Plants take in carbon from the atmosphere and build their biomass through photosynthesis, and when they shed leaves or die, they decompose and their carbon enters the soil. Once there, soil carbon can either be stored for long periods of time or be decomposed further to CO2 that then enters the atmosphere, completing the cycle. ] Credit & copyright: Jocelyn Lavallee, Colorado State University, School of Global Environmental Sustainability.
More about this Curio:
Environmental Protection Agency: "Greenhouse Gas Emissions."
Science Advances: "Spatial heterogeneity and environmental predictors of permafrost region soil organic carbon stocks."
TechCrunch: "Ag monitoring startup FluroSat merges with soil carbon expert Dagan to form Regrow."

Captain_Feelgood 8 Mar 25
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