- The solution to climate change might be right under my feet. I'm talking about the soil. - Healthy soil equals healthy
food equals healthy people. The age of chemical
food production is gone. Regenerative Organic agriculture
is really the future. - If you follow
sustainability issues at all, you may have heard of
regenerative agriculture. It's a farming practice
that some experts claim can reverse climate change by
sequestering atmospheric CO2 in the soil. We could sequester 100% of
human-caused carbon emissions? - That's absolutely correct. - Proponents say that it
can increase biodiversity, make farms more resilient to
floods, produce healthier foods and even improve farm animal welfare. It sounds almost too good to be true. So I want to know, can regenerative agriculture
reverse climate change? To find out I've come to the heart of regenerative
agriculture research The Rodale Institute,
they've studied regenerative and organic farming methods for 70 years. I'm Lucy Biggers. And this is One Small Step. The farm where we're
standing was purchased by entrepreneur J.I. Rodale in 1940. On the land he began
experimenting with farming without the use of chemicals
in a term he coined organic. In 1947, Rodale launched the
Soil and Health Foundation, which today is known as
the Rodale Institute. The nonprofit has decades long
research on farming methods, including a nearly 40
year side-by-side analysis of conventional farming
versus organic farming. Regenerative organic farming emphasizes the importance of soil health and includes practices like
cover cropping, crop rotation, holistic raising by
animals, the use of compost and no chemical fertilizers
herbicides or pesticides. In September, 2020, the Rodale
Institute released a paper which concluded that the global adoption of
regenerative practices across both grasslands and arable acreage could sequester more than 100% of current anthropogenic emissions of CO2. Okay, that is definitely a mouthful, but basically what
Rodale's research is saying is if we could transition
our farmland and grasslands to regenerative practices
we could actually sequester the carbon that humans release. Basically they're claiming that we could reverse climate change just by changing our farming practices. I spoke to Jeff Moyer, CEO
of the Rodale Institute to find out more. I think a lot of people
think that soil is just dead, it's dirt. - Right? - So what are you doing right
now on this farm to protect that soil health and
restore that soil health? - The key to soil health
is the microbial life that's in the soil. We all get our energy from the sun, whether it's electrical energy
you're using in your home, or it's oil that you're using in your car. With microbial life in
the soil is the same way. Only it gets its energy from the plants that are growing on the soil. So if the soil is bare with no crop on it, there's no energy being collected, the microbial life in the soil
dies and the health degrades. And so what we need to
do as farmers is keep the ground covered with something green and growing 12 months out of the year. So this field was tilled
just the other day, but we immediately planted
some fast growing cover crops that I'm gonna dig a little
bit up here and show you that it has a very complex
root system already. there you can sort of see
the rye seed that we planted right here.
- Right. - Here's the rye sprout coming up, but look at all of the root
structure here already. So it's collecting energy and
putting carbon in the soil. The plant roots are supporting the microbial life in the soil and the top of the plant
is collecting solar energy, which is carbon and putting it in the soil where the plant can use it. - When plants use photosynthesis, they take CO2 out of the atmosphere and put some of it in the soil as carbon. Plants are so good at this, that there's three to four
times more carbon in our soils than in our atmosphere and vegetation. Historically conventional farming with its heavy reliance on pesticides and synthetic fertilizers
has degraded the soil and decreased the amount
of carbon it holds. So much so that it's
estimated 75% of global soils are degraded. And according to the United Nations, we only have 60 harvest left. So if this was just a conventional farm, they would just leave it field
like this bare all winter? - That's right, yes, absolutely,
it would just be bare. - And why is that so bad? - Well, again, you're not
collecting any solar energy and you're not feeding the
microbial life in the soil. - So even when this is gone
next season some of this carbon that was in its roots will (indistinct) - Oh, the carbon will, yeah. In a couple of weeks this
thing will be covered solid with solar collectors, collecting energy from the sun
and sequestering that energy and that carbon in the soil. - To understand regenerative agriculture, we have to look at today's
conventional farming, which took hold in the 1960s and is now the dominant
way to farm in the US. Conventional agriculture relies on the use of chemical fertilizers,
pesticides and herbicides, as well as genetically modified crops that produce high yields in vast acres of monoculture fields. Over the past century, conventional agriculture
has doubled farm outputs, but at a major cost. Conventional agriculture produces
less nutrient dense food, emits chemical runoff that pollutes waterways
threatening human health and it contributes to climate change. Fossil fuel based nitrogen fertilizers are a major source of nitrous oxide, which is a potent greenhouse gas. - When we first started
farming organically and we bought this farm in 1971, everybody said you can't grow corn, but clearly you can see
this field right next to us. - Yeah - Is a very lush green growing corn field. - Yeah. - And this has been organic
for the last 50 years. So this is the corn that's being raised for livestock feed. - Got it.
- This is not human consumption corn. This isn't sweet corn, but a very nice ear corn. We have a whole field of it. So it doesn't matter if
this field is one acre or 10,000 acres. - Right. - We can do it organically. - And what about pest
control with organic? - That's where crop rotations come in. We're growing corn on
this field this year. We won't grow corn on
this field next year. We're gonna grow it over there. So all the insects and the pests
will be here not over there so we rotate crops and. - It's that simple? - It's that simple. - Rodale has conducted a
40 year farm systems trial to compare the yields
of conventional farming versus organic farming. Here are their fields where they've been testing for 40 years. This is conventional corn, which has fed fertilizers and pesticides and then there's this five foot barrier. And then here is the organic corn. This side has no chemicals added. This side has a ton of chemicals. - So the first four years, the conventional system
out-yielded the organic system. - Okay. - And this is a field
that was pretty degraded. It had been 70 to 100 years
of conventional tillage and heavy chemical use. The plants kind of like
relied on those chemicals and then we took them away. From year four to today there's been no statistical
difference between the yields in the organic
and the conventional system. And what we found a lot of that has to do with putting more carbon in the soil. - Drew Smith is the chief
scientist at Rodale. Why can't conventional
agriculture also sequester carbon? What are you doing differently
that changes that outcome? - What we found over a long period of time here at Rodale Institute and
the farming systems trial is that when you use synthetic fertilizers you actually lose carbon over time. And when you use organic or
natural based fertilizers, like composts, manures, and
other natural fertilizers, you actually gain carbon
in the soil over time. - [Lucy] Rodale shows that you
don't have to use chemicals to get great results. On the farm they grow
vegetables like squash, sweet potatoes, and tomatoes. - This tomato plant is 15 feet tall. - Wow, so there's one
that starts right here and then it goes over here. And up to here, wow. - And up to here. - That is amazing. - And you can see that it's still. - It still wants to keep going. And they humanely raise
pigs, chickens, and turkeys that have space to live
and access to fields. This is like the chicken lawnmower. - Oh yeah, we call it the chicken tractor. - I know right now there's this
huge conversation, you know, go vegan for the climate. But I see you're raising chickens here, you obviously care about the climate. So what is the relationship with animals? - The problem is in how we've
chosen to produce animals by force feeding them grains
so that they can produce meat at a faster rate, but then the quality
of the meat goes down. Beef animals produce methane if you feed them corn and soybeans. They don't produce nearly as
much if they're eating grass. Probably in this country,
we all eat too much meat. - [Lucy] Right. - [Jeff] And we should cut
down the amount of meat that we eat, but we don't
have to eliminate meat. - Instead of chemical
fertilizer, Rodale uses compost, which Jeff told me help sequester carbon. - In degrees, hotter than
bath water, you know. You can see it looks like rich black soil. Keep in mind carbon is
black, coal is black. We only put it on our fields
once every five to 10 years. - Really? - Yeah.
- That's how strong it is? - The idea of applying this material is not to use it as fertilizer, but to use it as a soil amendment to feed the microbial life in the soil. - So connect the dot to me, then that's sequestering carbon because more microbes means
more carbon in the soil? - That's correct. The microbes are carbon
based just like we are. All life is carbon based. So the more carbon and they all-- - Oh, the more life. - Exactly, there's more life in the soil. More diversity and more life. - You really connected a dot for me because I'm like, it's been so abstract, like carbon in the soil. I'm like, okay, but it really
it's because the microbes. - The population of the microbes, yes. - And it seems like what
we've got going on right now with conventional agriculture,
with the chemicals, is we're just masking a very dead soil. - That's correct. - So back to this argument of sequestering 100% of our co two emissions. How is that even possible? Well, Rodale looked at several
farmland and grazing studies that showed significant
increase in soil carbon after the adoption of regenerative agriculture. Based on those results, they extrapolated that if global degraded farmland
and grassland were restored through regenerative agriculture, global soils could draw down
over 49 gigatons of CO2, which is more than the
approximate 37 gigatons of CO2 released globally each year. However, critics of the white paper claim that 100% carbon sequestration
in our soils is overstated. And that 10 to 15%
sequestration is more likely and still optimistic. Regardless, I still think
there are serious benefits to regenerative agriculture, including preventing chemical runoff, creating more nutritious foods, improving animal welfare and improving resilience
against climate change. I didn't go into in this
video, but research has shown that soil with higher levels of carbon have higher water holding capacity, which helps farms survive
times of flooding and drought. So here's what you can do to support regenerative agriculture. First vote with your dollar and look for this newly released regenerative organic certification, which is beginning to show
up on products in stores. If you can't find them
in your local store, you can shop them at regeneorganic.org. Also in February of 2020
U.S. legislatures introduced the Agriculture Resilience
Act to Congress, which includes incentives for
farmers to improve soil health and an increase in soil carbon research. Reach out to your house representative to express your support. Finally, the more people that know about regenerative
agriculture, the better. So share this video with your friends. That's all for this episode. Thank you so much for watching
and we'll see you next time. Bye. Thank you so much. This has been an awesome, awesome tour. - It's been my pleasure. - Really feel I got a few
light bulb moments there. - Good. - Carbon is life in the soil. - That's right. - So cool. - The news can be a lot. There's a lot of good out there. And a lot of fearless kids
and families putting kindness into action in their own communities. But the first step towards
helping is understanding. And that's where we come in. - Everyone wants to understand the world, which is why we're bringing
the news to your family. But NowThis way. - Each week, we'll talk
about the important issues, the positive progress
and the unsung heroes who are changing things for the better. - With a weekly YouTube
series podcast and newsletter. - We'll explore the uplifting
stories that inspire us. - And dive deep to understand
our changing world together. - On NowThis Kids.
Very little. Thoughts contribute to climate change. Since humans are reaching carry capacity and many are violent, that's why there's global warming
Changing our agricultural practices away from monocultures, synthetic inputs, GMOs and CAFOs toward more regenerative systems can have all sorts of ecological benefits including carbon sequestration. Other potential benefits include habitat for higher biodiversity, reduced runoff and downstream hypoxic zones, improved soil health and retention, diminished adverse health effects on farm workers, better nutrition from the food, better soil permeability and water retention, and the list goes on. Improving our agricultural systems should be considered among our top priorities.