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MO Soy says MU study puts big numbers to carbon capture

The president of the Missouri Soybean Association says the MU study they commissioned on the amount of carbon captured by the state’s soybean farmers is very big news.

Ronnie Russell, who grows soybeans and corn and raises cattle in west-central Missouri, says the University of Missouri study shows big numbers on how conservation investments over the last 30 years translate into yearly GHG emission reductions of 2.8 Million tons of carbon dioxide equal to about 640-thousand passenger cars. That’s more than 25-percent of the total passenger cars registered in Missouri and equals more than six-Billion road miles,

Russell tells Brownfield Ag News, “It actually shows me, in my operation, that what I’ve been doing is really significant. What I’ve been doing is really moving us forward to sustainability.”

Russell says in that same time, Missouri’s average soybean yield has grown by about 66-percent.

He calls the study a game changer for ALL of agriculture that needs national attention, “There’s been times in the past that maybe agriculture gets a little bit of a bum rap as to what kind of greenhouse gasses or emissions that we’re putting out by producing food and fiber for the country. But this shows that there’s really a great return on what we are doing.”

Russell says farmers can and should do more to capture carbon and he plans to do that with cover crops and other practices this year on his farm.

He says soil savings from conservation practices and biodiesel production are also a big part of soybean farmers’ contributions to solving climate issues.