Back-to-the-Roots-Platform for Digital Twins for Regenerative, Mixed & Precission Farming towards a World Wide Farm Operating System to Reverse Global Warming

The Problem: There is to much carbon in the atmosphere

“If we are going to succeed in balancing our climate, we do need to switch to renewable energies. But none of that will alter the tremendous amount of carbon, we’ve already put into the atmosphere. Since 1750, when the industrial revolution began, we’ve pumped about 1.000 billion tons, also known as gigatons, of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. It’s called our legacy load of carbon. And even if we stopped all greenhouse gas emissions today, that legacy load of carbon will still be there. That legacy load of carbon ist still gonna be warming the atmosphere for decades, if not centuries. So if all we talk about is reducing emissions, its not enough.” Quote from https://kisstheground.com/ .

According to the united nations the world’s remaining topsoil will be gone within 60 years. In other words, unless we find a way to save our soils, we have 60 harvests left.

“The most massive tsunami, a perfect storm is pouring down upon us. … This perfect storm that we are facing is the result of 

·       our rising population, rising towards 10 billion people

·       land that is turning into desert, and

·       of course climate change. 

The solution: Plants will pull enough carbon out of the atmosphere and store it in the ground

We do not only have to slow down or stop global warming, we have to reverse global warming and drawn down CO2 levels through biosequestration https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosequestration . Plants pull - through photosynthesis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photosynthesis CO2 out of the atmosphere and emitt oxigyn (O2) and use carbon (C) to grow. 40% of this carbon they send to their roots to exchange microorganisms carbon for minerals. Those microbes build Through this process the global soils contain 2 to 3 times more carbon than the atmosphere. 

“The soil environment can hold more carbon than the atmospher and plants living on the surface of the soil combined. We have an incredible ability to be able to store that carbon in the soil in a relatively short period of time.” 

Dr. Kristine Nichols, Chief Scientiest, Rodale Institute.

INRA recently developed a program called the 4 for 1000 Initiative https://www.4p1000.org/. Their goal is to increase the carbon content of the world’s soils by 0,4 % annualy. That would sequester the same amount of carbon that humanity emits each year. 

The principles of regenerative agriculture and soil health are universal (you can get these practices into work anywhere in the world) and combine 4 practices: 

·       NO TILL: the least amount of mechanical disturbance, 

·       COVER CROPS: diversity

·       PERENNIALS & TREES: armor on the soil, living root at all times

·       COMPOST/MOB GRAZING; animal intergration

The Problem (still and again): 

Why aren’t we farming regeneratively on a global scale? Why is the majority farming conventionally?

“We have a social problem. We have an educational issue. And until we get that right, we can’t fix our ecological issues. … It was kind of amazing to me as I was teaching all over the country. I’m going, wow, our producers don’t really know how the soil works. They don’t understand the basic ecological principles. Everything runs by carbon. We’re built by carbon. The soil microbes run by carbon. Carbon is the driving engine. It runs the system.” Ray Archuleta, Conservation Agronomist, NRCS.

“Plants use sunlight as energy and they pull carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, they turn it into a carbon fuel, ant that’s how they grow. But 40 % of that carbon fuel, they send down to their roots. They’re leaking it out in a very strategic way to soil microorganisms. Plants are feeding soil microorganisms carbon, and the soil microorganisms are bringing plants mineral nutrients. And in the process of all that those soil microorganisms make a carbon glue (glomalin) out of that carbon fuel. And they make habitat in the soil. They make little pockets in the soil to control the flow of air and water. And that’s one of the ways that carbon gets fixed the soil.” Kristin Ohlson, Author, The soil will save us.

In other words our farmers do not have the knowlege and skills to mimic nature while farming. We are not in touch with nature any more. 

The Solution: Back-to-the-Roots-platform

Back-to-the-Roots-platform will

·       enable holistic management of regenerative agriculture on a global scale

·       measure soil moisture and quality through sensors 

·       collect and manage sensor data in a big data architecture

·       use AI, VR and AR Techniques to manage and work with nature

·       help farmes through AI based decision support systems

enable mankind to get in touch with nature again.