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Research and scaling up Enhanced Rock Weathering in agricultural settings to capture carbon and elevate farmers' bottom lines
aboutus
We are the Yale Center for Natural Carbon Capture, and we are supported by the USDA to scale up a carbon-capturing technique called Enhanced Rock Weathering (ERW) and bring this method to farmers across the country.
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ERW has the potential to become a key technique in portfolios of carbon dioxide removal technologies..
For Consumers & Distributors
Consumers can help support farmers in reducing the carbon footprint of our food system by purchasing goods from farms that use climate smart practices
Tried and True
The pilot programs are designed to deploy enhanced rock weathering (ERW) technology on the farm, which capture carbon through spreading inert rock dust across the fields. This rock dust is entirely organic, contains no synthetic chemicals, is tested for heavy metals, and is beneficial to both the soil and the plants growing out of it.
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Rock dust has been used in regions as a soil additive since the 1980's in the form of crushed granite. Back then, carbon capture was not what they had in mind, but now, we are making the method more efficient and scalable, with the farmer and the climate in mind.
Photo courtesty of Zumwalt Acres
Photo courtesty of Zumwalt Acres
For Farmer & For Climate
Not only does the rock dust capture carbon through natural processes, but it also improves the soil health, reduces soil acidity, improves farmers’ yields, and even serves as an affordable and superior option to using agricultural lime on soils.
ERW has potential to remove ~2 billion metric tonnes of carbon dioxide per year (Beerling et al., 2020). By working with our farmer network, you support innovative farmers and help promote robust carbon accounting in farm systems .
Durable CO2 Removal
​Even if we stopped emitting all carbon dioxide tomorrow, it would still be hundreds of years until all residual human emissions were removed from the atmosphere.
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Therefore, we need to invest in carbon dioxide removal technologies that are durable, and that sequester carbon dioxide on timelines longer than the residence time of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
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ERW sequesters carbon for ~10,000 years, which is ~50x longer than carbon dioxide's atmospheric residence time.
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Photo courtesty of Zumwalt Acres
Photo courtesty of Zumwalt Acres
Our Principles
We believe in carbon removal technologies that are more than just about sucking carbon from the atmosphere.
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Climate solutions should be holistic and have numerous benefits for all. ERW not only benefits the climate, but also farmers who are operating on tight margins to feed their communities.
By increasing farmers' yields, providing extra commodity value through "climate-smart" labeling, and improving soil micro nutrients for crop harvests to come - ERW provides a multitude of benefits across the board.
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