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> Whats the mechanism for this and how much is "massive"? Take a (hand) shovel. Put it into a corn field, and have a look at the soil. Now go to a forest, and
by RetroTechie 3y ago
> Whats the mechanism for this and how much is "massive"?
Take a (hand) shovel. Put it into a corn field, and have a look at the soil.
Now go to a forest, and do the same.
Compare, and you will understand the mechanism, and the extent. Hint: in natural ecosystems, a good portion (if not majority) of all carbon is in the soil not above it. And much of that carbon stays in the soil for a looooong time.
- bluGill 3y agoI.have done that, the.forest was unfertile sand just a few cm down while corn fields arw black dirt for as deep as I can dig. The real lesson above is location, I did the above in locations 1000km apart with very different soil profiles. Modern corn farming is mostly done in former tall grass prairie. (Corn is a grass) forests are mostly in former forests you cannot compare anything about them.
- RetroTechie 3y agoTrue: location is important. Tropical vs. temperate, elevation, rainfall, etc. And of course its composition. The other lesson is that soils can take a long time to build up (on the order of ~1 cm. per year iirc, if that). Modern agriculture mostly takes from that, tending to leave degraded soils behind. Some agriculture 'breadbasket' areas are only that because soils there had centuries of relatively little disturbance to build up into a thick, fertile mass.
- bluGill 3y agoModern agriculture.build soil at the rate of about 1mm per year. Up until the 1930s it was really bad, but science has been looking at soil since then and that has gotten out to progressive farmers. Even the typical farmer who is more traditional has learned a lot and maintains existing soil. I doubt there is anything that will build soil at 1cm per year that us sustainable (you can maybe do that rate by taking good soil and moving it)