Emerging land use practices rapidly increase soil organic matter.
The loss of organic matter from agricultural lands constrains our ability to sustainably feed a growing population and mitigate the impacts of climate change. Addressing these challenges requires land use activities that accumulate soil carbon (C) while contributing to food production. In a region of extensive soil degradation in the southeastern United States, we evaluated soil C accumulation for 3 years across a 7-year chronosequence of three farms converted to management-intensive grazing. Here we show that these farms accumulated C at 8.0 Mg ha(-1) yr(-1), increasing cation exchange and water holding capacity by 95% and 34%, respectively. Thus, within a decade of management-intensive grazing practices soil C levels returned to those of native forest soils, and likely decreased fertilizer and irrigation demands. Emerging land uses, such as management-intensive grazing, may offer a rare win-win strategy combining profitable food production with rapid improvement of soil quality and short-term climate mitigation through soil C-accumulation.
Odum School of Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA.
Megan B
MB
Machmuller
Soil and Water Science, University of Florida Gainesville, Florida, USA.
Marc G
MG
Kramer
Crop and Soil Sciences, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA.
Taylor K
TK
Cyle
Crop and Soil Sciences, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA.
Nick
N
Hill
Crop and Soil Sciences, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA.
Dennis
D
Hancock
Odum School of Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA.|Crop and Soil Sciences, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA.
Aaron
A
Thompson