Farming with crops and rocks to address global climate, food and soil security

David J. Beerling, Jonathan R. Leake, Stephen P. Long, Julie D. Scholes, Jurriaan Ton, Paul N. Nelson, Michael Bird, Euripides Kantzas, Lyla L. Taylor, Binoy Sarkar, Mike Kelland, Evan DeLucia, Ilsa Kantola, Christoph Müller, Greg Rau & James Hansen Abstract The magnitude of future climate change could be moderated by immediately reducing the amount of CO2 entering the atmosphere as a result of energy generation and by adopting strategies that actively remove CO2 from it. Biogeochemical improvement of soils by adding crushed, fast-reacting silicate rocks to croplands is one such CO2-removal strategy. This approach has the potential to improve ...

USE OF ROCK DUST AS SOIL CONDITIONER AND FERTILIZER IN SUGARCANE CROP

This study has evaluated the use of ground mica-schist rock dust in sugarcane crop for the production of biofuels. Four treatments were defined: fine mica schist sand, coarse mica schist sand, control absolute, and control with standard fertilization used by Raízen Company. The treatments were applied in a system of strip cropping with four replications. The results were obtained from measuring the Total Recoverable Sugar per hecter (TRS/ha), a standardazised method in Brazil that defines the price of the sugarcane based on, amog other factors, the prices of sugar and ethanol in the market. The TRS/ha functions like a currency for commercializing ...

Challenges in Sovereignty and Food Security: Using Stonemeal as an Alternative and Sustainable Source

The creation of more sustainable systems has become an environmental, economic and juridical imposition, highlighting the premise of development and use of alternative sources of nutrients to crops, like biofertilizers and natural mineral sources. The stonemeal technique, which is the use of rock dust to efficiently manage soil fertility, presumes that the slower dissolution of nutrients secures soil productivity and fertility for longer periods. Hence, the by-products of the gravel industry would have a more noble use. The use of rock dust promotes an increased cation-exchange capacity (CEC) in the solid due to the formation of new clay minerals, as ...