FCRN member Dr. Adrian Muller co-authored a meta-analysis published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS). The authors looked at datasets from 74 studies from pairwise comparisons of organic vs. nonorganic farming systems to identify differences in soil organic carbon (SOC). 

A report published by the National Trust entitled What’s your beef? Compares the cradle-to-farm-gate emissions of ten tenanted National Trust farms, selected as representing a cross section of different beef production systems, including 4 organic, 4 conventional but extensive, and 2 semi intensive farms.

The Soil Association has published 'Just say N2O: From manufactured fertiliser to biologically-fixed nitrogen.' This report reviews the extent to which organic systems can meet the double challenge of reducing nitrogen losses and building stores of soil organic nitrogen so as to reduce dependency on manufactured nitrogen.

A couple of papers by FCRN mailing-list members on soil carbon sequestration: these conclude that the benefits of soil carbon sequestration activites (through the incorporation of organic matter and/or reduced tillage) have been overstated and may distract attention from other priorities, including halting deforestation and improving N use efficiency. 

This workshop was organised by the Food Climate Research Network and supported by Defra and the Committee on Climate Change on 21 January 2010. The workshop participants explored the role that soil carbon sequestration approaches can play in reducing agricultural emissions, the potential downsides and trade offs with other environmental concerns, and the gaps in our knowledge that need to be filled. 

This paper summarises the presentations and discussions that took place at a workshop organised by the Food Climate Research Network on 21 January 2010.