**2.7 Microbial leverage**

As soil microbes are central to soil fertility, plant growth, and carbon sequestration, it is prudent to ensure their abundance and diversity. Providing food and safety to them ensures their abundance. As organic matter is their food, ensuring organic content in soil ensures supply of food to them while avoiding physical injury to them with least disturbance to soil ensures their safety. They also need to be protected against chemical injury by avoiding use of chemicals as fertilizers/herbicides/pesticides. As symbiotic relation of the microbes and plants has specificity of plants, certain plants attract certain specific microbes. So, diversity among plants above ground results in diversity among microbes below ground. Thus, abundance of soil microbes is ensured by ensuring enough organic matter in soil while diversity of microbes is ensured by diversity of plants above ground. Once abundance and diversity of soil microbial population has been ensured, there is nothing more to be done by farmer. However, it is possible for farmers to support the microbial community by growing plants with thick root mass since microbes reside mostly in the root area. Direct inoculation of microbes can also add to the abundance. As microbes are at their best under good FPs, use of good FPs by farmers results in microbial leverage.

## **2.8 Potential of SCS as a climate solution**

Global warming as an outcome of "blanket effect" of concentrated greenhouse gases (GHG) in atmosphere sets climate change in motion. Carbon dioxide, being major constituent of GHG, is the major causative factor behind climate change. Though warming effect of carbon dioxide starts long time after it enters atmosphere, it stays in atmosphere for thousands of years. So, carbon neutral or zero carbon emission commitments stopping further influx of carbon dioxide to atmosphere will not stop climate change immediately. Thus, removing a chunk of carbon dioxide from atmosphere is the only activity that can stop the climate change. Ecological agriculture or farming with good FPs is one such an activity that is also simple, inexpensive, and demonstrably proven all over the world.

Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) is being explored through emerging technologies but farming with good FPs is a non-technological option that can remove atmospheric carbon dioxide without any hassles. It leverages soil microbes with good FPs to enhance soil carbon sequestration (SCS). Potential of SCS is the amount of organic carbon that can arrive at the soil and stay there for ever. It depends on land area, type of soil, current storage state, and climate factors etc. The UN FAO publication on the re-carbonization of Global Soils [10] estimates that SCS potential of agricultural soils lies in the range of 1.44–3.45 GT carbon per year and that 25–75% of soil's original carbon stock is already lost mostly due to bad farming practices which is recoverable through good farming practices. Considering middle figure in the range as estimated value, 2.5 GT C/y can be taken as SCS potential. A recent publication by FAO [11] on potential of SCS lays down methodology for precise estimation. The CGIAR Working Paper [12] indicates global potential of agricultural management practices as 5.5–6.0 GT CO2eq/y.

As molecular weight of carbon dioxide is 44 and that of carbon is 12, factor for converting CO2 weight to carbon weight is 0.27. Thus 6 GT CO2/y potential is equivalent to 1.62 GT C/y potential. On cursory look at various estimates, the global SCS potential of agricultural soils can be rounded off to 2 GT/y.

It is worth repeating here that SCS decarbonizes atmosphere above ground and re-carbonizes soil at underground. It implies removal of carbon dioxide from atmosphere as a climate solution and enrichment of soil fertility for higher farm output. Thus, soil organic carbon (SOC) is the key both for SCS and farm produces. Farmers can keep their focus on SOC to maximize the crop yield while the global community can feel the better atmosphere with reduced carbon dioxide. From the estimates mentioned above, SCS potential can be safely taken as 2 GT C per year which is a significant figure.

### **3. Conclusion**

The industrial agriculture has lured and trapped farmers with bait of high crop yield. Blinded by high yield, they are unable to discern the damage to soil caused by bad farming practices. Soils are so degraded by bad faring practices that they release carbon dioxide into atmosphere aggravating the climate change. Thus, agriculture has turned into a net carbon source though it has the potential to be net carbon sink with good farming practices. A big chunk of CO2 is required to be removed from the atmosphere as stopping CO2 emissions is not enough to halt the climate change. Agriculture being net carbon sink under good farming practices is one of the right climate solutions that re-carbonizes soil while decarbonizing atmosphere. It is like homecoming for the carbon from long exile at atmosphere.

A brief not on good or bad farming practices may not be out of place here. Farming is unlike an industrial commodity production system as farming activities are intertwined with natural processes of the ecosystem that sustains life on the planet. The current farming practices involving use of heavy mechanical equipment for soil preparation followed by use of chemicals as fertilizers to enhance soil fertility and as pesticides/herbicides to kill pests and weeds are bad farming practices as they cause harmful effects on soil and other natural resources and human health. On the other hand, the good farming practices are in harmony with natural processes and cause no harm to environment, natural resources, and human health. Good farming practices also reduce farming effort to the minimum as they do not involve farming activities against natural processes. Why bad practices are mainstream is no secret. The industrial agriculture has aggressively promoted use of mechanical equipment for soil preparation and use of chemicals for fertilizers and pest/weed control. As farmers are blinded by the high yield propaganda, they are unable to see the loss of soil which is their main asset. It calls for big efforts at various levels to nudge farmers to switch to good farming practices as explained earlier.

Good farming practices not only improve soil carbon sequestration but also farm-productivity. The potential of SCS in removing atmospheric carbon is about 2 GT C per year which can be achieved with good farming and management practices. Farmers may have nothing against good FPs since they are good for both farmers and climate. This perspective primes farmers to adopt good FPs and global community to support them for good FPs. With carbon sequestration being an ecosystem service, it is possible that farmers may claim compensation for rendering ecosystem services. But once they realize that good FPs provide not only ecosystem services but also maximize crop yield, they would happily embrace good FPs. However, there is a case for financial support to them during the first 3 years of transition to compensate for loss of income during this period when yield is less. There can be no going back once they find the new practice to be in their interest, more so if provided with training and orientation on good practices. Then they can become strong followers of good FPs for life. Under such revolutionary change, even the industrial agriculture will be compelled to change its business strategy

*Leveraging Soil Microbes with Good Farming Practices for Higher Soil Carbon Sequestration… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.105201*

from toxic farming to ecological farming services and products. Thus, all stakeholders viz. farmers, industry, and global community will support eco-farming resulting in better crop yields and SCS leading to better atmosphere with reduced carbon dioxide. The world can thank farmers and their supporters for such an inexpensive climate solution which can operate alone or in parallel with other climate solutions. All this would be possible by leveraging the soil microbial creatures who are at their best when farming practices are good. So, thank you, microbes for compelling all to follow good FPs.
