Better Manage Soil C for Improved Soil Quality
In the United States, soil has fueled the availability of abundant, safe food, thus underpinning economic growth and development. In the future we need to be more vigilant in managing and renewing this precious resource by replacing the nutrients and life-sustaining matter that we remove for our own needs. Taking these issues into consideration, Soil Carbon Management: Economic, Environmental, and Societal Benefits explores all of the advantages of effective soil carbon (C) management.
A Different Way of Examining Soil C Management
This unique resource provides a new conceptual framework to develop policies for managing and enhancing soil C and presents new approaches to achieve positive environmental outcomes. In each chapter, the book poses a problem or set of problems and then describes how effective soil C management can help to solve these challenges, listing the multiple benefits that arise from these practices. The book addresses specific problems such as soil erosion and land degradation and evaluates the advantages of soil C sequestration, specifically for policy development purposes. The policies discussed can be tailored to meet regional and local needs and constraints. The book also explains how to achieve an ideal environment by applying beneficial practices for farming and land management.
A Plan for the Future
Illustrating how to conserve and preserve soil quality for future generations and detailing how to restore the ecological functions of soil, this book will aid in the formulation of future agricultural policies that sustain food and fuel needs and have long-lasting, positive environmental impacts.
This book highlights the significant economic, environmental, and societal benefits that result from land management practices that maintain or increase soil carbon (C). Each chapter poses a problem or set of problems and then describes how effective soil C management can help to solve these problems. The book explores the potential for agricultural soils to generate soil C credits that could be traded in the broader greenhouse gas credit market, uses an economic metric where possible to determine the broader value of activities that increase soil C sequestration, and describes the benefits of farm programs that reduce soil erosion, improve air and water quality, and mitigate global warming.
