Farmers can cut carbon, if payments are right
Doug Gronau makes money from his soil, not just from his corn and soybeans.
He gets payments each year for farming his rolling western Iowa land without breaking the soil. The ground between the rows of corn and soybeans plants is littered with old corncobs and decaying debris.
But the money is in the stuff that’s out of sight. Such no-till farming keeps carbon under the ground, in the form of roots and other plant matter. Tillage releases the carbon to become a heat-trapping gas, carbon dioxide, in the atmosphere. (full article)
