Message below was sent to members of the CCL Raritan Valley chapter and other persons on 12-06-20. It is the second on the subject of regenerative agriculture with livestock (RAWLS). Click tag “RAWLS” to see all.
Bill Allen 01-11-21
Hello All:
This is follow-up to a message sent out a week ago: RAWLS and DAC: Scoping the Challenge
I lack interest in, and knowledge of many subjects: Until recently these included diet, food, and health. I recently learned, however, that there is a strong link between them and the subjects that interest me most: global warming, climate change, sea level rise, and ocean acidification. The link is agriculture and my interest in diet, food, and health is growing.
A week ago I introduced a kind of agriculture and called it RAWLS. This stands for “regenerative agriculture with livestock.” I wrote that it is the best method known today for drawing down CO2 from the atmosphere and storing it in the soil. I need to explain how RAWLS works and provide evidence that it does work.
I will begin by asking you to watch a video of a TED talk given by Gabe Brown. He runs a 5000-acre ranch in ND and is the best practitioner of regenerative agriculture with livestock that I know. The video runs 16 minutes and the YouTube link is here:
I recommend that you read the introduction and interesting comments under the video.
My message last week generated several good comments. I have attached them to this message and will comment on them below.
John and Eric observed that RAWLS comes in two flavors.
Allan Savory, in his TED and other talks, describes land that has once supported livestock, and that is now severely degraded and largely unused. He argues that the primary cause was the removal of wild and domestic grazers, and shows that returning grazers to the land regenerates it.
Gabe Brown, whom I introduce above, shows how existing pasture and crop land can be improved with regeneration methods using livestock.
In both cases there is intensive grazing on a relative small section of land for a short time, followed by a much longer time in which the land lies idle. The soil biology (aka life in the soil) will have been stimulated by the grazing. It will utilize the nutrients in the droppings left behind, and the sugars produced by photosynthesis in the grass remaining on the surface, to grow the grass back up and the roots further down. The roots will contain carbon, that will remain sequestered in the soil.
Eric and I both grew up on farms in NJ, but at different times and places. We are both alumni of RCA semiconductor operations. He has a garden. I have planted trees and shrubs on my home property, but never a garden. He has more practical knowledge of farming and soils than I. I have had an intellectual interest in farming over the years, and may fairly be called an “armchair farmer.”
It’s important to identify potential obstacles along a path before deciding to take it. Eric did this. I agree with every one he described and will comment on a few.
[1] Most farmers like those in Iowa practice what is called industrial farming. Example: corn alone on a huge field, using synthetic fertilizers and biocides, and getting by with federal subsidies. Middle-aged and older farmers who practice this will probably never change. But they will get older and retire or die.
Young men (and sometimes women), who have learned about RAWLS in college, see the opportunities to be their own boss, make a good living, and help the environment at the same time, can come along and make the transition from industrial farming to RAWLS.
Remember that our optimistic goal for net zero CO2 emissions is three decades down the road. Gabe Brown started learning and practicing RAWLS in the 90s, and was doing it very well in two decades.
[2] Huge obstacles will be the collection of large corporations like Cargill, ADM, and Monsanto (aka Big Ag), that dominate US agriculture, and their customers like Tyson Foods. But if people like those in CCL are willing to take on firms like ExxonMobil and Shell, then surely we can find people who will take on the farming/food corporations.
[3] Adoption of RAWLS in the US will probably not be enough to achieve the drawdown requirement that I estimated in my first RAWLS message. We will need other countries to use RAWLS too. Good progress here will stimulate similar work abroad.
[4] Eric said his comments “are rather negative.” He knows more about farming than I, so I am pleased that he found no real farming problems with RAWLS.
Using photosynthesis to capture CO2 is great: Tom wrote this and suggested planting more trees. I agree with this.
He made some other excellent comments, that were not related to RAWLS, so I won’t comment further on them here.
Frankly, I was blown away by Allan Savory’s material: Frank wrote this and John, Bill K, and I had similar reactions.
The only novel contributions in my first msg were the acronym RAWLS and my estimate that we need to draw down 12 tons of carbon for each acre of global farm land. I have not seen this estimate made by others. Frank said that my “calculation is directionally correct.” I can live with this.
Wrapup: Thank you who have commented on RAWLS. I invite others to join you.
I have added an old friend to this distribution.
Bill Allen