At our 2020 Conference in March, internationally-renowned Australian Soil Microbiologist and Climate Scientist, Walter Jehne, will be speaking about his passion – the importance of the Soil Carbon Sponge.
His work has taken him all over the world, including to speak at the 2017 United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in order to include soil in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report.
Read this interview with Walter in Eco-Farming Daily, and find out how he has shown the Soil Carbon Sponge can mitigate, and even reverse climate change. And in which he compares well-aggregated soil to a cathedral :
The mineral particles in the soil are like the stones of a cathedral. Soil organic matter is analogous to the cement that holds the stones together. Adding just a small amount of organic matter — 1, 2 or 3 percent by weight — fundamentally changes soil’s physical structure. That organic matter cement between the mineral component enables us to develop these massive, beautiful spaces. A healthy soil has a bulk density of about 1.2 g per cc or less. About 66 percent of a healthy soil is just space, air — nothing — and that creates massive capacity for the sponge to hold water. It allows water to infiltrate and be retained and made available over time. It’s really the “nothing” that we add to soil which creates its health and viability, like a cathedral. What nature has done is exquisitely beautiful.
Walter Jehne ‘Supporting the Soil Carbon Sponge (Eco Farming Daily)
Come and listen to what Walter Jehne has to say at our conference ‘The Regenerative Soil Solution, in March at Lincoln University.
The Regenerative Soil Solution Conference 2020
On March 7 & 8th, 2020, we will be holding our Annual Conference and AGM at Lincoln University on the subject of Regenerative Farming. The weekend will consist of a full programme of expert speakers – Walter Jehne, Prof Jack Heinemann, Paul Smith, Alistair Humphrey, Phyllis Tichinin, Dr Mike Joy – and regenerative farmers – Simon Osborne, Jono Frew, Peter Barrett, Nigel Greenwood, Hamish Bielski. Agricultural Economist, Peter Fraser will be our Master of Ceremonies. Join us on a guided fieldtrip, and enjoy a catered menu of delicious, local organic food and wines.