Application 5 / 5
Carbon Neutrality
Building soil organic carbon is one of the ways agriculture can contribute to carbon-neutral goals. Humic substances are part of soil organic matter; long-term carbon storage depends on continuous organic inputs, soil protection and good management, and verified carbon removal requires measurement over time. The pages below explain the topic in plain terms.
Four topics
Soil carbon topics
Carbon sequestration in soil
Soils store carbon when plant residues, roots and other organic inputs are added faster than they decompose. Practices that keep the soil covered, add organic matter and reduce disturbance raise soil carbon stocks over years, and the gain can be lost again if management changes.
What to check
- Baseline soil carbon stock
- Management practices and their permanence
- Measurement, reporting and verification
Soil organic carbon
Soil organic carbon is measured as a concentration in samples and converted to a stock using bulk density and sampling depth. Because changes are small relative to the stock and vary across a field, credible results need a sampling design and repeated measurements over several years.
What to check
- Sampling depth and bulk density
- Number and location of samples
- Laboratory method
Humic substances and soil carbon
Humic substances are part of soil organic matter. Current research sees the persistence of soil carbon as depending mainly on its protection by minerals and soil aggregates and on soil conditions, rather than on the chemical structure of the organic matter alone.
What to check
- Mineral-associated and particulate organic matter
- Soil texture and aggregation
- Inputs of fresh organic matter
Carbon fertilizer
Carbon-based fertilizers combine organic or humic carbon with nutrients. The carbon added in a normal fertilizer dose is small compared with the carbon already stored in the soil, so applying a humate is not by itself a verified carbon removal; it is one input within the overall soil management.
What to check
- Organic carbon content of the product
- Rate and frequency of application
- How any carbon claim would be measured
What to check
- Claims about carbon need measurement over time, not product content alone
- Organic carbon content and test method of the product
- Fit with the farm’s soil management plan
- Rules of the carbon programme, if credits are involved
Guides
Questions about soil carbon and humates?
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