Just a quick thought today about regenerative agriculture.
Specifically about the practice of maximizing photosynthesis in our farming model.
(and what this means for climate change)
What does that mean?
Well, it helps to shift your thinking about plants a bit.
When we are thinking about plant growth we need to see leaves as tiny solar collectors.
And hence the way to maximize photosynthesis is to maximize the amount of leaf area per acre as well as maximize the amount of time the leaves are collecting solar energy.
This get back to a couple of the soil health principles that are the basis of regenerative agriculture.
Namely
1. plant diversity and
2. keeping the ground covered for as much time as possible
Plant diversity can affect the rate of photosynthesis because of something called leaf architecture. Â Basically different shaped leaves and the way they hang off of plants affects their ability to collect solar energy and the more varied are the types of leaves, the more efficiently they can do so.
Hence the more diversity of plant species present, the more solar energy the crop will collect.
It almost goes without saying that the longer we keep growing plants in the soil, the more they will collect solar energy and photosynthesize.
Its why we grow winter cover crops that grow over the non-growing season.
Since one of the products of photosynthesis is CO2, the end result of all of  this photosynthesizing is that more carbon is removed from the air and sequestered in the soil.
Of course this is not something we see being touted as a way to battle climate change from the powers that be.
Could it be that this is a far too simple solution to be to their liking?
What do you think?
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