The calls to shift to a plant-based diet to help mitigate climate change are getting louder. Farmer Daniel Slabbert and their supporters, however, look at it differently. They believe cows and cropland can help save the planet.
In South Africa, there are still plenty of grasslands or veld. Farmers such as Slabbert are practicing regenerative agriculture, farming, and grazing that rebuild soil organic matter and restores degraded soil biodiversity.
The practice, according to Slabbert, is just like trying to mimic nature. He rejuvenates the land by increasing the cattle herd. Herds are enclosed in a rectangular patch of grassland with a low-voltage wire. The herd consumes all the grasses they can find before the wire lifts, and they move to a new section as it replenishes the land. Eventually, crops are planted in the grazing area.
Cows contribute to 145 of all global emissions. A single cow, according to researchers at UC Davis, can belch around 220 pounds or approximately 100 kilograms of methane each year.
However, unlike cows confined in feedlots, cows in this farm are grazing in the grassland in large numbers.
According to researchers at Texas A&M University, led by Professor Richard Teague, even the moderately effective grazing systems put more carbon in the soil than the gases the cattle emit. The team studied farms, such as Slabbert's, that had the highest soil carbon. According to Teague, "they managed their land following the principles where they were trying to do exactly what the bison did. They were trying to improve their land and their profits."
The role of soil in climate change
Slabbert points out the importance of dung beetle: the small insects break up the dung, the big ones haul the natural fertilizer deeper into the soil. Limiting the pesticides would allow natural biological systems like the dung beetles, earthworms, and other micro-organisms to help rejuvenate soil health.
The soil is the key to sustainable climate agriculture because it has an extraordinary ability to store carbon. It holds carbon three times than in the atmosphere. Scientists believe that with better management, agricultural soils could absorb more carbon in the future.
Plants also absorb carbons through photosynthesis and put it back to the soil through the roots. Carbons are also trapped in the soil through organic matter and micro-organisms. The soil, however, needs to be thriving and left relatively undisturbed to store carbon.
For several decades, farmers have plowed fields, dumped fertilizers and sprayed herbicides. In modern agriculture, the soil is a mere medium for inputs. However, carbon is lost in the process and released into the atmosphere.
The chemical revolution had a price. Many farmers and scientists now want to bring the soil back to life. For these people, healthy soil is linked with sustainable yields and will help the planet. For the soil to be alive, farmers must combine cattle with crops.
Slabbert, for example, never plows his cornfields, or he leaves the land fallow to keep the carbon in the soil. The corn is tightly packed, so he does not have to spray. In winter, his cattle herds eat the residual corn, leaving natural fertilizers as they go. His fertilizer and chemical input cost has been reduced drastically, but the yields are high.
Why are they not doing it?
For one, shifting from chemical-based agriculture takes time. It also leads to a reduction of yields during the transition period. The pressure to produce more has caused a transformation in agricultural lands. Vast tracts of land are now used to cultivate one crop at a time. This practice has increased agricultural production by 170% from 1948 to 2015, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
While there may be higher yields, several studies point that plowing, fertilizing, and using chemical pesticides on the soil constraints its long-term health.
In South Africa, temperatures are rising. Multi-generational farms and livelihoods have been wiped out due to droughts in recent years. Slabbert admits that even though he is not a biologist or scientist, he feels the heat. Thus, climate change is an issue for them.
Research shows that, when there is drought, regenerative farmers often survive. Their lands hold water better, and the grazing systems make the grass healthier. On a global scale, the regenerative farming system, similar to Slabbert's farm, could solve climate change.