Participants in the Achterhoek cycle store more carbon

Members of the Vruchtbare Kringloop Association Achterhoek and Liemers (VKA) store about 5 percent more carbon in the ground than the Dutch average. This is evidenced by research conducted by Eurofins Agro among VKA participants.

The best result is especially visible in grasslands. For arable land, the amount is at the national average, but both types of soil are storing more and more carbon. Eurofins research covers the period 2012-2023. The amount of carbon stored in grasslands increased by one ton. The research is based on data from more than 15,000 plots of land. Grassland and arableland soils were analyzed using soil carbon screening.

The study was conducted due to growing interest in storing carbon in soil. Retaining carbon in the soil helps combat global warming and is better for soil health. The idea is that having more carbon in the soil contributes to more sustainable production of agricultural products.

Positive effect

“There are fluctuations due to weather conditions in 2016 and 2020, but the general trend is to store more carbon in the soil. This has a positive impact on climate change, because every year more carbon is sequestered A little extra carbon dioxide in the soil.”

“Because grasslands contain more organic matter than arable land, arable land needs more management to store carbon. Here we see a greater increase than in grasslands. Over ten years, an average of 2 tons of carbon were stored Additional carbon here. This corresponds to more than 7 tons of CO2. With good management, an additional storage of about 2 tons of CO2 could be achieved on an annual basis. “In practice, much higher than that is not possible,” says Fabbri. truly”.

Eurofins points out that the degree of carbon storage in the Netherlands is almost unique in Europe. This approach means that carbon does not rise as carbon dioxide. In most neighboring countries, a decline can be observed when it comes to soil carbon storage.