What is soil carbon?
Soil Carbon is the carbon stored in the soil as a component of soil organic matter (including plant and animal) in the soil that are in various stages of decay.
Soil carbon is directly related to agricultural productivity. Increasing carbon stocks improves water holding capacity, nutrient availability and soil fertility. This is beneficial for broadacre, horticulture and irrigation farming.
Increasing the production of plant biomass can increase organic carbon in soils. This creates a positive feedback loop: increased soil carbon can boost plant growth, and more plant growth can increase soil carbon.
Soil carbon has been identified as an important tool to mitigate climate change as soil stores more carbon than the atmosphere and terrestrial biomass (trees) combined.
