Climate researchers have identified intensive agriculture as a major source of greenhouse gas emissions for decades. And larger, more urbanized populations are forcing the industry into expanding its practices that release carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
One way of helping to offset those emissions is to capture and sequester carbon. Key to this is soil organic carbon (SOC), the carbon components of the organic compounds found in the worldâs topsoil. This is composed mostly of soil biota, such as earthworms and decomposing organic materials. Globally, SOC stores about 1,500 petagrams of carbon in the first metre of topsoil â more than all of the carbon in the atmosphere and terrestrial vegetation combined. And it can accommodate more.