CSSHP Growers are Sequestering Carbon

Climate Change can be scary and discouraging, but our CSSHP growers are offering hopeful solutions.  This graph shows how the 6 CSSHP growers who are making the most progress have all increased the Total Organic Carbon in their soils over the last 6 years of our project.  Our growers have been taking carbon out of the atmosphere and sequestering it in their soils.  They have turned CO₂ gas into solid organic carbon which their soil microbes turn into more stable forms of soil organic matter.  This carbon will persist in their soils and make their soils and crops more resilient to coming droughts and floods.  Even given Colorado’s high altitude, short growing season, poor shallow alkaline soils, and arid conditions, our CSSHP growers have shown that Colorado farmers and ranchers can remove carbon from the atmosphere to help draw down atmospheric CO₂ levels.  This is great news!  Colorado farmers and ranchers can join other growers from California, to Iowa, to Pennsylvania, in sequestering carbon in their soils and in fighting climate change.