Carbon Farming

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Encyclopedia of Food and Agricultural Ethics
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Carbon farming is a term used to describe agricultural activity that is undertaken with an express desire to improve the levels of carbon in the atmosphere. Some approaches to carbon farming focus on reducing the output of carbon from agricultural activities. The term is also used to refer to agricultural activities conducted with the express intention of capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in order to mitigate against climate change. Carbon is captured in the cells of living plants. At this stage, it can either be turned into another manufactured product, such as biofuel or biomass. This can be used by other processes or, in the case of charcoal, can be “sequestered” and plowed into the ground locking up the captured carbon. A range of land management, agricultural, and agroforestry techniques can be deployed with the intention of managing carbon.

The Carbon Cycle in Agriculture

Within the carbon cycle, there are a great many transactions taking place that exchange carbon...

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Correspondence to Gavin Harper .

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Harper, G. (2019). Carbon Farming. In: Kaplan, D.M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Food and Agricultural Ethics. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-1179-9_473

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