Koeie het die vermoë om metaan teen ‘n kommerwekkende tempo in die atmosfeer vry te stel, maar nuwe data toon dat hulle ‘n belangrike rol kan speel in die vernuwing van plaasgrond.
Cows may belch methane into the atmosphere at alarming rates, but new data shows they may play an important role in renewing farm soil.
Navorsing deur die Soil Association Exchange (SAE) toon dat plase met ‘n mengsel van akkerbougewasse en vee sowat ‘n derde meer koolstof in hul grond opgeberg het as dié wat net akkerbougewasse produseer, danksy die diere se mis.
Dit het ook ‘n uitwerking op biodiversiteit: gemengde saai- en veeplase ondersteun ongeveer 28 grasveldplantspesies in elke veld, vergeleke met 25 vir slegs bewerkbare grond en 22 vir slegs suiwelboerdery.
Joseph Gridley, Uitvoerende Hoof van SAE, wat in 2021 deur die Grondvereniging gestig is om volhoubare boerdery te ondersteun en te meet, het gesê dit is onwaarskynlik dat koolstof wat in grond vasgevang word die enorme hoeveelhede metaan wat deur beeste geskep word, sal uitbalanseer. Plaasvee regoor die wêreld skep ongeveer 14% van mens-geïnduseerde klimaatvrystellings.
“Dit is redelik ondubbelsinnig in die data dat vee op jou plaas beteken dat jy meer vrystellings het – vyf of ses keer meer vrystellings,” het hy gesê. “Maar as jy vee in die stelsel integreer, is daar in die geval van elke maatstaf oor grondgesondheid ‘n verbetering, en baie van die biodiversiteitsmaatreëls toon ook ‘n verbetering”.
Research by the Soil Association Exchange (SAE) shows that farms with a mixture of arable crops and livestock have about a third more carbon stored within their soil than those with only arable crops, thanks to the animals’ manure.
This also has an effect on biodiversity: mixed arable and livestock farms support about 28 grassland plant species in every field, compared with 25 for arable-only and 22 for dairy-only.
Joseph Gridley, Chief Executive Officer of SAE, which was set up by the Soil Association in 2021 to support and measure sustainable farming, said it was unlikely that carbon captured in soil would balance out the enormous amounts of methane created by cattle. Farm livestock around the world creates about 14% of human-induced climate emissions.
“It’s pretty unequivocal in the data that having livestock on your farm does mean you have more emissions – five or six times more emissions,” he said. “But if you integrate livestock into the system, on every metric on soil health, there’s an improvement, and on a lot of the biodiversity measures as well.”