Silvopasture’s Gigaton Potential
Gigaton Potential
If you’ve never heard of silvopasture, you’re not alone - but we’re hoping this article helps bring more attention to this promising agricultural solution with a carbon reduction potential of ~27-42 gigatons by 2050 or 2 gigatons / year (on par with rooftop solar!)
For reference: in 2019, the world emitted 51 gigatons of CO2-equivalent greenhouse gases. Project Drawdown estimates we need to cumulatively eliminate 1,000 GT from 2020-2050 to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius.
You Might Be Interested If...
You wonder about competition for land between nature-based solutions and agriculture
You care about farm profitability
You think about animal welfare
You see the biodiversity and climate crises as inherently interrelated
What You Should Know
What's the largest agricultural climate solution? Hint: it's not soil (despite the press).
It’s… silvopasture! This climate solution incorporates moderate densities of trees into pasture: an intentional and integrated “tree-forage-livestock” system. It is not a new idea. Before modern day agriculture, many ecosystems around the world were managed this way. Silvopasture has recently caught renewed attention after being identified as the largest agricultural climate solution by Project Drawdown).
Pine silvopasture
Source: USDA National Agroforestry Center Photo
In the US, the majority of the potential area suitable for reforestation is found on privately-held pastureland, located mostly in the area east of the Mississippi River (TNC ReforestationHub). As such, farmers are vital partners to scale this promising climate solution. There are many economic benefits to farmers adopting silvopasture. It supports core farm profitability by providing livestock access to natural shade, reducing heat stress. If you've ever spent an afternoon on pasture in July or August, you know how hot it is. Last month, somewhere between 2,000-10,000 cattle died in a heat wave in Kansas.
Moreover, many species of trees produce nutritious and bountiful livestock feed, offsetting the cost of purchasing hay which is often the largest expense for cattle operations.
The arrival of carbon markets now provides a meaningful additional revenue stream for farmers making the shift. Taken together, there is now an economic case for silvopasture, especially since the average farmer in the US struggles to break even (USDA).
From a planetary benefit perspective, pastures with trees sequester 5 to 10x as much carbon as those of the same size that are treeless. Alongside the climate emission reduction benefit, silvopasture can also increase wildlife diversity and improve water quality. The trees protect the soil from water and wind erosion and add organic matter that improves soil health. (USDA).
The world needs urgent climate action, sufficient food, and strong communities. With silvopasture, we believe these goals are not in conflict; the interests of farmers and the climate overlap.
Key Players
Nurseries help provide the seedlings for farmers to plant their trees. There are a number of public and private nurseries available.
Many input providers provide products to support tree growth such as tree protection. Plantra, as an example, provides a range of planting suppliers from grow tubes to bark protection. Similarly, low-cost electric fencing (such as products provided by Gallagher) is crucial in preventing mortality.
Organizations such as Trees for Graziers, Propagate and Interlace Commons help farmers plan and execute the design of the silvopasture project.
There are many funding options available for farmers such as the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Environmental Quality Incentives Program which provides grants for farmers. FarmRaise helps farmers navigate through the paperwork to expedite funding.
From a monitoring / verification standpoint, advances in smartphone LiDAR, satellite remote sensing data, and machine learning models help scale the carbon credit verification process for silvopasture projects. A new startup called Working Trees is tackling this.
The buyers of these carbon credits involve companies with public commitments to reduce their carbon footprint through offsetting. Microsoft is a leader in this area. You can impact this space by joining corporate sustainability programs and advocating for key opportunities like silvopasture.
Opportunities for Innovation
Tree Protection: For large-scale silvopasture, a combination of electric fencing with tree tubes needs to be implemented to protect the trees from damage while allowing livestock grazing. This can be expensive for farmers to implement, often the largest cost of establishing these systems.
A startup called Vence has developed a virtual fencing system that uses sounds and GPS technology to help guide where cattle graze. It helps save costs of electric fencing and is more humane for the cows.
Improved genetics: Tree species that are used for silvopasture have not been bred to maximize carbon sequestration or agricultural benefits; this is a real area for innovation. Companies like Living Carbon could develop tree genetics that jointly serve agricultural and carbon goals.
Regionally specific design: Varying land typology throughout the US means that every region needs to be carefully studied before implementing a silvopasture design. While players like Propagate offer tech-enabled consulting services (through their product called Overyield) to help farmers design their land, we need more innovation here to make this scalable.
Financing: It costs money up front to plant the trees while the benefits come years into the future. This presents a cash flow issue.
Working Trees is addressing this by making it easy for farmers of all sizes to participate in carbon markets for the first time. They have developed a technology that dramatically reduces the cost of running a carbon project by leveraging technology to drive down verification costs. They also provide upfront financing for silvopasture deployment, and can offer reliable revenue flows from carbon credit buyers by aggregating farmers into groups.
Credit to The Gigaton for the original publication of our article.
