Underground Economics - Making Markets to Solve Cities' Problems through Soil Formation
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Underground markets can be created to pay land managers to rebuild soils, solving cities' environmental problems. Rapid topsoil formation through regenerative agricultural practices provides benefits like increased water storage and filtration, reducing flooding and drought. New monitoring and valuation tools can quantify these ecosystem services at landscape scales, facilitating performance-based carbon, water, and risk mitigation markets. Case studies demonstrate improved soil health and yields while decreasing inputs. A soil carbon challenge encourages accelerated topsoil formation to address climate change and resource security.
Underground Economics - Making Markets to Solve Cities' Problems through Soil Formation
- 1. Underground Economics: Making Markets to Solve Cities’ Problems through Topsoil Formation
- 2. By Way of Introduction Cimarron Farm, St. Albans, VT Carbon Farmers of America New Soil Matrix New Soil Quantum Soil Carbon Coalition
- 5. Opening Assumptions Increasing Soil Carbon: Key to Environmental Security, Rural and Urban Economic Development Cities need the environmental services offered by covered, aggregated, high-carbon soils on a landscape scale The watershed and global services generated by soil are decreasing in supply, increasing in demand. Topsoil can be built pretty quickly Cities need it, land managers can produce it: Let the markets begin (!?)
- 6. "Do civilizations fall because the soil fails to produce - or does a soil fail only when the people living on it no longer know how to manage their civilization?“ Charles E. Kellog, Soils and Men, the 1938 United States Department of Agriculture Yearbook of Agriculture
- 7. Accelerated topsoil formation on agricultural, grazing and desert land addresses natural resource problems at local- global scales Increased agricultural production Water storage and purification in soils and aquifers Mitigation of flooding, drought, wildfire, erosion, dust-storms, eutrophication and ocean dead-zones Climate change mitigation and adaptation CURRENT Payment for Environmental Services (PES) Markets are establishing around the world. Water is “the new oil.” Carbon Markets Wetland and Habitat Mitigation Banking Payment for Watershed Services NEW PES market opportunities through topsoil formation: Natural hazards mitigation Municipal water provision through: Increased infiltration of precipitation resulting in groundwater recharge and purification Restoration and flow maintenance of surface waters Water efficiency enabled by reduced irrigation
- 8. Quantify and scale solutions from the farm and ranch to solve watershed-wide problems • Improved: – Soil cover – Soil Diversity – Soil carbon – Soil crumb structure – Depth of topsoil • Increased production, quality and food security • Regional hydrological regulation • Decreased natural hazards • Decreased reliance on irrigation and fossil fuel inputs • Climate change mitigation and adaptation
- 9. Paying land managers to rebuild soils is smart urban planning.
- 10. What does security and wealth for our city look like? Functional hydrology: Groundwater recharge, flowing streams and rivers, sustained reservoir recharge, clean water. Minimized flooding, drought, wildfire, dust storms, wildfires, eutrophication Opportunities for import substitution: Insurance, dams and pipelines, disaster clean-up, digging out roadside ditches, dam silting, etc. Strong agriculture and ranching economics in the hinterland
- 11. Cases in Point: New York City Watershed Investment • 1989 EPA Surface Water Treatment regulations • Early 90’s – Water quality was at a point that a filtration plant would be needed. Estimated Cost: $6-8 billion construction, $300 million annual operating costs. • Unless- high water quality standards could be demonstrated and guaranteed. • Outcome: $1.5 billion investment in implementation of best management practices on farms, the upgrade of wastewater treatment facilities, the rehabilitation of septic systems, the improvement of storm water runoff systems and acquisition of land from upstate landowners on a voluntary basis
- 12. Suan and Bhodi, Northern India • The wells were running dry in the village of Suan • Upstream, in Bhodi, deforestation and poor grazing management. • People in Suan re-planted the slopes around Bhodi. • Bhodi residents worked to improve grazing and agricultural management. • Bhodi: Increased fodder and fuel • Suan: More well water, less damage from upstream erosion.
- 13. B2B: Vittel, France • Nitrate and pesticide contamination of a lucrative mineral water source. Nestle Waters became concerned. • A private deal with local farmers was established in which long-term improved agricultural management was rewarded at a rate of $110/acre/yr for 5 years – 18- or 30-year contracts. – ~$200k per farm for equipment and building upgrades – Free labour to apply compost in farmers’ fields. – Free technical assistance
- 14. The Regenerative Agricultural Canon ~ 40 tools to rapidly build new soil: *Producer Leadership*
- 15. Gene Goven and Gabe Brown: The Burleigh County Boys and their Cover Crop Cocktails Images Courtesy of Gabe Brown
- 16. 65 Days After Seeding, Then Grazed
- 17. Grazed Cocktail Cover Crops: Results • Gabe Brown’s 4,000 acre farm in North Dakota: – 265% increase in organic matter in 11 years – 12-fold increase in water infiltration: ½”/hour to 6”/hour – 13.6” of rain in 22 hours: zero erosion – 10% fertilizer use of the county average – 25% herbicide use of the county average – 117 bushel corn yield compared to 70 bushel county average “US EPA: N and P reduction of 45% necessary to reduce the Gulf dead zone to a reasonable size”
- 18. Filling in the Gaps: Tools and Capabilities to Facilitate Markets for Watershed Services • Managers who can deliver • Monitor, Model, Communicate, Valuate, Plan, Broker, Execute • We need to be able to think in whole watersheds, underground and aboveground and across time. Image:ASU Decision-Support Theatre
- 19. Landscape-Scale Soil Monitoring and Quantification of Services Provision Quantifies provision of range of environmental services benefits arising from soil formation Accounts for spatial variability in soils 4’ plus depth
- 20. The New Soil Matrix Operating System for the Soil Age Decision Support Tools for: • Accelerated topsoil by ranchers, pastoralists and farmer • Quantification and monetary valuation of resulting environmental services Artificial Intelligence assisted future resource base scenario modeling and policy formation by urban, corporate, NGO and government managers Performance-based Water, Carbon, Biodiversity and Risk Mitigation environmental markets.
- 21. Building Momentum • Prove our case with monitoring, demonstrate that we can solve cities problems cost- effectively, soon, lastingly. • Make use of information technology to communicate the complexity of nature working. • Live like it’s the last day of your life, ranch like the future depends on it.
- 22. The Soil Carbon Challenge Soil Carbon Coalition An X-Prize style challenge to see how fast land managers can increase carbon in soils. Please join. www.soilcarboncoalition.org Tony Malmberg
- 23. Map of Soil Carbon Changes www.soilcarboncoalition.org