ORGANIC FERTILIZERS, COMPOSTING COULD HELP CUT GREENHOUSE GAS

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SCIENTIFIC BLOGGING - Applying organic fertilizers, such as those
resulting from composting, to agricultural land could increase the
amount of carbon stored in these soils and contribute significantly to
the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, according to new research
published in a special issue of Waste Management & Research. . .

One estimate of the potential value of this approach – which assumed
that 20% of the surface of agricultural land in the EU could be used as
a sink for carbon – suggested it could constitute about 8.6% of the
total EU emission-reduction objective.

"An increase of just 0.15% in organic carbon in arable soils in a
country like Italy would effectively imply the sequestration of the same
amount of carbon within soil that is currently released into the
atmosphere in a period of one year through the use of fossil fuels,"
write Enzo Favoino and Dominic Hogg, authors of the paper.

"Furthermore, increasing organic matter in soils may cause other
greenhouse gas-saving effects, such as improved workability of soils,
better water retention, less production and use of mineral fertilizers
and pesticides, and reduced release of nitrous oxide."

However, capitalizing on this potential climate-change mitigation
measure is not a simple task. The issue is complicated by the fact that
industrial farming techniques mean agriculture is actually depleting
carbon from soil, thus reducing its capacity to act as a carbon sink.

According to Hogg and Favoino, this loss of carbon sink capacity is not
permanent. Composting can contribute in a positive way to the twin
objectives of restoring soil quality and sequestering carbon in soils.
Applications of organic matter (in the form of organic fertilizers) can
lead either to a build-up of soil organic carbon over time, or a
reduction in the rate at which organic matter is depleted from soils. In
either case, the overall quantity of organic matter in soils will be
higher than using no organic fertilizer.

http://www.scientificblogging.com/news_releases/
can_compost_heaps_cure_global_warming


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