There’s too much carbon in the atmosphere, there’s not enough in farming soil.
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What if farmers and a fungus could remedy this?
Local agronomist and co-founder of ‘Soil C Quest 2031’, Guy Webb, put just that proposition forward at the TEDx Sydney 2017 Fast Ideas.
Mr Webb was one of six people selected from 100 applicants to present their 30 second fast ideas at the conference at the International Conference Centre (ICC), Darling Harbour.
As well as delivering the pitch to the live audience, the event is watched at satellite events around Australia and on the live simulcast stream.
Many of us would think that condensing the concept of farmers being Carbon Capturing Climate Superheroes into 30 seconds would be a tricky undertaking, but Guy took the challenge in his stride and gave a snap shot of the Soil C Quest goal.
The audience voted with applause and much to Guy’s surprise, he won!
Soil C Quest, recently registered as a not-for-profit research institute, is dedicated to the development of practical methods farmers can employ to store large quantities of carbon in their soils.
One of the major aims of the project is to create a seed innoculum that will ‘fix’ carbon in the soil using ‘carbon capturing fungi’.
“It captures carbon out of the air and converts it to stable soil carbon,” Mr Webb said in his TEDx talk.
This is important, Mr Webb says, because soil carbon is the basic for soil fertility.
As an agronomist who tests soil and recommends products to remedy deficiencies in nutrients like phosphorous or zinc, he’s been looking for a solution to depleting carbon levels in soil throughout his career.
“The more carbon you have, the more buffer you have against the extremes of wet and dry,” he said.
Mr Webb is working with Trangie cotton-grower and grazier Mick Wettenhall and Grenfell grazier Mark Shortis.
Testing has been done in Forbes and Trangie on canola and cotton crops with promising results, they’re now doing clinical trials in glass houses in Orange.
“This is an exciting and timely opportunity for the Soil C Quest project, with support being offered to the project from TEDx through Change.Org, a major marketing organisation,” Mr Webb said.
“The project still has a long way to go though and we are commencing a crowd funding campaign in October to enable us to raise funds to undertake the research and development required.”
If you are interested in finding out more about C Quest, go to their website at scq.net.au
