b'S T R A T E G Y A featured segment designed to help you in the realm of retail seed sales. New Plants for Carbon FarmingAs agriculture looks to better farming practices to sequester more carbon, breeders look to make new crops to help.Joe FunkCARBON SEQUESTRA- the atmosphere by emittingtons. Removing COfrom the 2TION its a buzzwordcarbon dioxide, those changesatmosphere is one means to thats slowly trickling downwill endure on the timescale ofmitigate the effect of carbon into agriculture practices.many human lives. BY THEemissions.But how could breeding forAccording to the CarbonNUMBERS:Theres no energy carbon farming actually helpCycle Institute (CCI), agricul- required for capture COthe industry?ture is the one sector that hasIn 2019, the U.S.2at biorefineries, says Daniel The extent to whichthe ability to transform fromemitted5.1 billionSanchez, an engineer and agricultural crops and farm- a net emitter of CO 2to a netmetric tonsof energyenergy systems analyst at ing practices will be calledsequesterer of CO 2 .related carbon. the University of California, upon to play a role in affectingCarbon dioxide (CO ) isBerkeley, noting only a small 2Earths future climate changesnaturally captured from theThe global emissions amount of energy is needed hinges on the extent to whichatmosphere through bio- of energy-related to compress and dehydrate atmospheric carbon dioxidelogical, chemical and physicalcarbon dioxide totaled the gas. The reason why this (CO ) is involved in effectingprocesses. Using physical pro- works so well is that its cheap 2 cesses for carbon capture and33.1 billion metricand why everyone wants to changes in the Earths climate. Carbon sequestration, carbonstorage (CCS) is widely criti- tonsin 2019. do it. farming and land manage- cized for being too expensive ment practices provideto be worthwhile. However,Agriculture andAgricultures Potential to various agricultural methodsthe process can look fairlyforestry practicesSequester Carbonaimed at sequestering atmos- different depending on whereaccountfor at leastThe rate of carbon capture pheric carbon into the soil. the carbon is being captured.24%of global carbonand storage could be accel-Carbon sequestration isFossil fuel-fired power plantsemissions accordingerated through changes in the process of capturing andemit a hodgepodge of gases,to Green America, aland use and agricultural storing atmospheric carbonmaking it difficult and energy- practices. The goal of agricul-dioxide. It is one methodintensive to have a capturenon-profit membershiptural carbon removal is to use of reducing the amount ofsystem that can separate theorganization basedcrops to sequester carbon carbon dioxide in the atmos- CO . Biorefinerieswherein the United Stateswithin the soil over long time 2phere with the goal of reduc- corn and other forms of bio- that promotesperiods. Capture can be done ing global climate change,mass are fermented into etha- environmentally aware,by selecting farming methods explains David Crisp at NASAsnolemit a pure stream ofethical consumerism. that return biomass to the soil. Jet Propulsion Laboratory inCO , with nothing more than aCarbon farming includes a 2Pasadena, Cali. Some reac- little water vapor mixed in.9% of carbonvariety of agricultural methods tive ozone and ozone-formingThe U.S. Energyemissions inaimed at sequestering atmos-chemicals like nitrous oxidesInformation Administrationpheric carbon into the soil. are relatively short-lived.estimates that in 2019, thethe U.S.is due toThese farming practices can Carbon dioxide is a differ- United States emitted 5.1agriculture accordingincrease total carbon content, ent animal, however. Oncebillion metric tons of energy- to Green America. improve soil water-retention added to the atmosphere, CO related carbon dioxide. Thecapacity and reduce fertilizer 2hangs around for a long time:global emissions of energy- use in addition to improv-between 300 to 1,000 years.related carbon dioxideing plant growth. Lynette Thus, as humans changetotaled 33.1 billion metricNiebrugge, Carbon Farm 58/ SEEDWORLD.COMINTERNATIONAL EDITION 2021'