Contact/s:
Alessandro Zatta
a.zatta@crpa.it
Carbon Farming as a Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Tool for Forage Production
Italy
Mediterranean area
- Soil organic matter
- Carbon farming
- Biodiversity
Thematic Areas
Production System/s
Summary for Practicioners on the Main Finding(s)/Innovative solution(s)
The phenomena that characterise climate change include rising temperatures, extreme events such as prolonged periods of drought followed by intense rainfall events, and a decrease in rainfall resulting in a decrease in agricultural production. The Mediterranean area is considered a climate change hotspot, i.e. where the phenomena listed above occur most frequently and most intensively. Carbon farming is considered a tool for facing and mitigating climate change because it aims to preserve soil fertility by maintaining or increasing organic matter. Maintaining soil fertility is essential to continue producing forage in terms of both quantity and quality.
Good practices that can be adopted include the following:
⦁ Reduce tillage:
⦁ Avoiding ploughing – high costs, limits soil bearing capacity and lengthens working time
⦁ Minimum tillage and/or no-tillage techniques
⦁ Biodiversity and crop rotation
⦁ Crops and genotypes adapted to new climatic conditions (e.g. from Southern Italy)
⦁ Crop associations (e.g. alfalfa and foxtail millet; wheat and forage peas; etc.)
⦁ Cover crop
⦁ Permanent meadows
⦁ Rational manure management
⦁ Maturation of manure and slurry
⦁ Spreading according to crop needs
Summary for Practicioners in Native Language
I fenomeni che caratterizzano i cambiamenti climatici sono anche l’innalzamento delle temperature, eventi estremi come periodi prolungati di siccità seguiti da eventi piovosi intensi e la diminuzione della piovosità con conseguente calo delle produzioni agricole. Il mediterraneo è considerato un hotspot dei cambiamenti climatici, ossia dove i fenomeni sopra elencati avvengo più frequentemente ed in maniera più intensa. Il carbon farming è considerato uno strumento di contrasto e mitigazione dei cambiamenti climatici perché mira a preservare la fertilità dei suoli attraverso il mantenimento o l’incremento della sostanza organica. Il mantenimento della fertilità è fondamentale per continuare a produrre foraggio in termini sia quantitativi che qualitativi.
Le buone pratiche che si possono adottare sono le seguenti:
⦁ Ridurre le lavorazioni
⦁ Evitare l’aratura – costi elevati, limitano la capacità portante del suolo e allungano i tempi di lavoro
⦁ tecniche di minima lavorazione e/o no-tillage
⦁ Biodiversità e rotazione delle colture
⦁ Colture e genotipi adattati alle nuove condizioni climatiche (ad esempio, dal Sud Italia)
⦁ Associazione di colture (es. erba medica e panico; grano e piselli da foraggio; ecc.)
⦁ Cover crop
⦁ Prati permanenti
⦁ Gestione razionale del letame
⦁ maturazione del letame e del liquame
⦁ spandimento in base alle esigenze delle colture
Additional Information
The phenomena that characterise climate change are also rising temperatures, extreme events such as prolonged periods of drought followed by intense rainfall events, and a decrease in rainfall resulting in a decrease in agricultural production. The Mediterranean area is considered a climate change hotspot, i.e. where the phenomena listed above occur most frequently and most intensively. Carbon farming is considered a tool for facing and mitigating climate change because it aims to preserve soil fertility by maintaining or increasing organic matter that it is fundamental for continuing to produce forage in both quantitative and qualitative terms.
Carbon farming involves the application of good practices that aim to reduce energy, chemical and labour inputs. In Italy and Europe, numerous projects have been carried out and are still ongoing that have identified good practices according to pedoclimatic areas, water availability, crop cycle and type of farm.
Carbon farming aims to reduce tillage by trying to disturb the soil as little as possible, preserving the organic matter and favouring micro and macro porosity, soil biodiversity and at the same time reducing the use of fuel with consequent savings also in economic terms. Reduced tillage also means fewer hours/hectare are used, allowing better planning of all farm activities.
The reduced availability of water associated with the occurrence of extreme phenomena such as prolonged periods of drought and/or intense rainfall and temperature peaks requires the use of new species and/or varieties in crop rotations that are better adapted to the new soil and climate conditions. Genetic improvement by seed companies plays a key role, but also the use of agronomic techniques such as crop associations enable the production of high-quality forage. The use of cover crops is a valuable tool to protect the soil between two cash crops, to fertilise (e.g. leguminous crops) or to reduce leaching (catch crops). Converting part of the land to permanent meadows can bring both environmental (increased biodiversity and soil carbon stock) and forage quality benefits.
European agriculture accounts for about 10 % of GHG emissions, of which 70% from the livestock sector due in part to poor manure management.
Rational manure management would reduce GHG and NH3 emissions but also reduce the purchase of chemical fertilisers if used when crops need it.
Good practices that can be adopted include the following:
• Reduce tillage
o Avoiding ploughing – high costs, limits soil bearing capacity and lengthens working time
o Minimum tillage and/or no-tillage techniques
• Biodiversity and crop rotation
o Crops and genotypes adapted to new climatic conditions (e.g. from Southern Italy)
o Crop associations (e.g. alfalfa and foxtail millet; wheat and forage peas; etc.)
o Cover crop
o Permanent meadows
• Rational manure management
o Maturation of manure and slurry
o Spreading according to crop needs