JOBS - Swiss pharmaceuticals giant Novartis has announced that it will cut 1,100 jobs worldwide from its struggling agricultural division. Some 18,000 people are currently employed in the ag division. U.S. Wheat Associates is funded in part by Minnesota wheat farmers, through the per-bushel checkoff. In the May issue of Minnesota's Future, published by the University of MN Extension Service, an article explains how new soil tillage practices are contributing to the battle against global warming. Using the new practices over the past 15 years, farmers are storing carbon in the soil instead of releasing it as carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Soil carbon is thought to contribute to global warming.
Allmaras, based in the Department of Soil, Water, and Climate at the University of Minnesota, is also a member of the Minnesota Wheat Research and Communications Committee. Allmaras says that currently, increased carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere have increased plant growth and crop residue available to build even higher levels of soil carbon. More carbon dioxide is released to the atmosphere from the moldboard plow because the plow lifts and inverts an 8 to 12-inch slice of soil and buries stubble and other unharvested crop residue located on or near the surface. Those microbes convert the residue to a form of carbon that readily converts to carbon dioxide, which can escape to the atmosphere. Reduced tillage methods leave more residues on the soil surface or in the top four inches.