Carbon Farming

This is a great description of the basis of why I am pursuing an MBA. This concept is the foundation of the business plan I will be writing in the next year. Carbon Farmer's of America say that they can build 6 inches of topsoil per year using intensive rotational grazing and a keyline plow. Bringing the technology of the soil food web into it, I think we can easily top that.

I love this concept so much because it creates benefit on so many levels. For one, there is the carbon sequestration process which takes carbon out of the air where it is a greenhouse gas, and puts it in the soil where it will be turned into plant food (oh, and did I mention that cow farts, i.e. methane, are much less frequent in cows with healthy grass diets than in cows fed on corn and soy). Also, there is the benefit of healthier food; if the plants that the animals eat are healthier, have deeper roots to access more nutrients, than they pass on those benefits to the animals. Also phenomenal are the benefits from decreased erosion of topsoil, groundwater filtration (imagine that! a cowfield that actually helps clean the groundwater instead of polluting it!), economic gain (since there isn't the same need to treat the animals for diseases, to fertilize the fields, to use pesticides fungicides or herbicides, plus the grass stays alive longer into the winter, so less need for purchased hay, and the cows get bigger faster in a healthier way!), oh, and did I mention climate change? On a large enough scale, this process has actually been shown to change local climates by increasing the moisture content in the air which actually cools the region and creates more rainfall! Directly combating climate change!

So, enjoy the video, and to any of my fellow BGI folks who might be interested, I'm starting to put together my entrepreneurship dream team now, and I'm taking applications!