carbon
sink
farms
A LAND-BASED MOVEMENT TO ADDRESS CLIMATE CHANGE
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carbon & farming
Carbon is the elemental building block of all life. It has naturally cycled through earth, water, fire and air since life on this planet began.
But, over the course of the last century, humans have tipped the cycle out of balance by harvesting and burning centuries of stored carbon and by tilling and depleting our living, breathing top soil. Today, there is simply too much carbon in the air and not enough in the earth.
Currently our agricultural and food system is responsible for approximately 27% of global GHG emissions. On average, agricultural practices consume 7 units of fossil fuel energy for every unit of food energy created.
Carbon farmers cultivate plants, bushes and trees in a way that maximizes sequestration. An avocado tree can sequester more carbon than a head of lettuce--but it is really the roots and soil below that make the magic happen!
When farmers reduce tillage, eliminate chemical applications, add compost and grow cover crops we create healthy soil teeming with life. Living soil sequesters more carbon, and more carbon encourages more life, in a positive feedback loop that can re-balance our planet's carbon cycle.
The most efficient, cost-effective strategy for correcting the overwhelmed carbon cycle is photosynthesis.
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PLANT POWER
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By understanding the carbon cycle and harnessing the power of photosynthesis farmers can produce healthful food AND sequester carbon. We call this:
CARBON FARMING
At the Carbon Sink Demonstration Farm in Pauma Valley we measure sequestration by crop and by the amount of carbon in our soils, which we have increased from 1% to 4% since 2018. In 2020, this equated to a draw down of nearly 600 metric tons of C02, offsetting the emissions of 80 American households.
If you choose to eat local produce, grown on farms that utilize carbon farming methods...you are part of the solution!
LET'S FARM OUR WAY TO A HEALTHIER FUTURE!