An Overview Of Our Solution
Organic farming grows more food with less cost, but sustainability requires earthworms. My 35 yr research found +78% counts in organic vs. conventional correlating to soil quality and +39% yield in pasture, wheat, rice & sugarcane. Diverse species act as vermicomposters or field worms. Benefits of their activity accrue for microbes (N2 fixers), humus, & H2O. Their burrows filter rain and all C is processed via their guts in 12-yr cycles. Potential rapid CO2 reduction by ~10 ppm is by Permaculture / Keyline / Satoyama / Agroecology methods that I teach.
Science based organic husbandry–with earthworms at its core to monitor & maintain healthy soil–aligns with IFOAM, COP21-22 Policy & “4/1000 Initiative: Soils for Food Security & Climate”.
Just as Green Revolution depleted topsoil; ‘Brown Revolution’ rebuilds it from the ground up.
Who is this solution impacting?
Community Type
Urban
Suburban
Rural
Additional Information
- Population Impacted:
- Continent: Asia
General Information
Organization type
Other
Ecosystem (select all that apply)
Deserts
Forests
Freshwater
Grasslands
Oceans/Coasts
Urban/Built Environment
Population impacted
Farmers, growers, advisers & consumers.
Challenge
Size of agricultural area
World Bank/FAO data for global area given over to agriculture is 5.4 Gha (38% total land), of which most is pasture/fodder (24%) or arable (11%). Forest occupies 4.1 Gha (~28% total land), just 3% is urban.
Production quantity
About 99% of human food comes from soil (just 1% for oceans). Pasture yields are 1 Gt per yr. For crops studied (FAOSTAT), 675 Mt for wheat, 692 Mt for rice, 1.7 Gt sugarcane.
People employed
Over 1 billion people are employed in world agriculture, representing 1 in 3 of total work-force, with women more active (38 % vs. 33% for men). A large proportion of child labour is also employed, often as unpaid family members.
Solution
Describe your solution
Conserving worms (vermes) simultaneously mends ecology. They are ubiquitous, underpin biodiversity, lift yields and fix carbon. My solution is to research key issues in the field then promote findings in publication & teaching. In 1981 my BSc ecology project in tribute to Darwin’s “Worms & Vegetable Mould” (= humus) was at Lady Eve Balfour’s pioneering Haughley farm. In 1990 a pasture argoecology PhD at CSIRO in Australia led to post-docs in Asia. Permaculture study with Bill Mollison in Tasmania in 2001 adds PDC & Yeomans’ Keyline to my teaching, most recently at Sir Albert Howard’s original vermicomposting site at Indore.
Summary of 35 yrs work is that organic farms have 57–122% more worms compared to conventional neighbours with up to 23 species/site. Yields were up 12–80% (mean 39%) in pasture, winter wheat, tropical paddy rice & sugarcane. Haughley’s 1,000 yr-old pasture had 424 worms/m2, stored 222 t/ha carbon SOM, plus H2O was 90% above arable fields. Correlation (r >0.81) of worms is with yield plus soil H2O & C hence CO2 reduction via photosynthesis / humification.
Of many soil carbon studies / policies, few consider worms. Relating to climate, extrapolation to areas of three crops if all converted organic gives storage of 53.1 Gt C or ~7.3 ppm CO2 reduction. Pastures offers greater potential remedy, at optimal 222 t/ha x 3.6 Gha total grass = 800 Gt C or equal to present atmosphere value.
Implementation
Describe your implementation
Solution to problem of degrading topsoil & disappearing species is from science plus education. I have 200+ scientific (Open Access) reports & papers and 100’s of presentations at international, national & local meetings or workshops. A tangible contribution is my online guide to 7,000 species for most regions (www.annelida.net/earthworm/).
Extensive field studies are published scientifically, but my training courses for earthworm eco-taxonomy & PDC permaculture avoid jargon, focusing more on practical & appropriate solutions.
At COP10 (2010 CBD Nagoya Protocol), Dr Paul Hebert invited me to join iBOL (www.barcodeoflife.org).
Enabling factors are: Computer & internet for rapid analysis, with DNA barcoding advances reducing ID costs to just $20 per test.
Key success indicators are: My 1,000 page COSMOPOLITAN EARTHWORMS Guide as text for soil sampling (ISO/FDIS 23611-1) and “Tropical Soil Biology”; more than 125 citations for my Haughley Earthworms (Blakemore 2000 - www.orgprints.org/30000/) and Japanese Earthworms (Blakemore, 2003) papers; plus numbers of student at my training courses, e.g. 240 at ISVT-3 in PI in 2013.
Obstacle of lack of scientific support for organic farming & permaculture is a gap my work fills. Regarding earthworms & GHG flux, my pragmatic approach is to study net C budget. Biochar offers little over compost. Issues of invasive worms may be linked to natural ecological succession. A crucial concern is organic crop yield claimed as lower in two meta-analyses. But I found independent reports of same or higher yields, as in my own studies and, in developing countries, organic / natural farming offers most hope (FAO). Broad organic conversion may yet “Feed Us All” says Worldwatch Institute (2006), whilst also preserving biodiversity, sequestering carbon and saving both water & energy.
A recent review by van Groenigen et al. (2014) show worms associated with +25% yield, supporting my data.
External connections
Some key partners (in no particular order) are:
Kahariam farm Batangas for organic rice.
Penalosa farms on Negros organic sugarcane.
Sulu Gardens in Miagao worms in aquaponics.
Tagbac School Oton vermi-gardens.
IRRI (visits).
FAO GSP.
LBM Biwako satoyama.
Permaculture Awa, Chiba (PAWA).
ZamaPerma.
Rodale Institute (visit).
JSPS research in Japan.
Asia-Pacific Network (APN) fund.
NIBR Korean spp inventory.
CSIRO Australia.
Vermitech large-scale compost.
Permaculture Research Institute (study).
Research fellow status is at several Universities & Museums and I presented/attended at national/international climate change & biodiversity issue meetings (e.g. Japanese Smart Cities, Carbon Futures, IUCN).
Government policy & finances need to shift to support soil research. Currently resources are directed to fisheries & forestry or Space research. As IFOAM President Andre Leu said: “$52 billion is spent annually on agriculture research worldwide, but less than 0.4% [$200 million] is spent on organic farming”. Such disparity partly explains deficit of basic information on organics & earthworms, hence this entry. Paris COP21 Climate Policy in 2015 allocated >1% GDP towards mitigation. Hopefully some will be directed at earthworm organics to help keep this work (and the worms) alive.
Results
What is the environmental or ecological challenge you are targeting with your solution?
Crucially 50-70% topsoil is lost to erosion (FAO). We ignore worm loss too; my new IUCN review has >20 species extinct. Environmental triage shows complex problems of species vs. food but an embarrassingly simple solution is to restore topsoil humus. As nexus between organic recycling & rebuilding humus, the best way to preserve biodiversity while meeting human needs is to conserve earthworms. The challenge now is: How to do this?
Worms are obvious to farmers/gardeners who protect their stocks. A problem is lack of information to identify and to promote bio-abundance. Plant nutrients or microbes are volatile soil indicators dependent on activities of earthworms but, as key ecosystem engineers, they alone transform soil as both monitors & mediators.
Describe the context in which you are operating
The context is living soil, depleted by agriculture yet providing 99% of food on 38% of land. NASA/NOAA (http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/CarbonCycle/) show carbon flux in land vs. oceans ratio 60:40 and soil as larger C sink (2,300 Gt) than all air, plants + seas combined. Most land is pasture or forest; just ~10% is arable but a modest extra 0.4% per yr organic SOM carbon in ten years (230 x 0.004 x 10 = 9 Gt) equals total human emissions meeting goal of “4 per 1000 Initiative” (http://4p1000.org).
Active in all habitats, worms convert C to stable SOM and store H2O in ~9,000 km/ha of burrows that aerate & filtrate. They are basis of all terrestrial food-webs as prey & ultimate detritivore. In other words, we have no viable alternative to geo-engineer the many ecological services freely & relentlessly provided by earthworms.
Farming methods advocated here up yield & topsoil at less cost, raising family incomes so reducing dual problems of employment & urbanization. Public & environmental health & diversity improve by replacing synthetic N2 fertilizers / toxic biocides with organics / worms.
How did you impact natural resource use and greenhouse gas emissions?
My contribution is in three ways: Most literally, ~400 new native species + ~100 new exotics records with details freely available in academic papers & online (e.g. www.annelida.net/earthworm/); plus proper survey of pastures, farms & gardens to assay abundance & diversity; and thirdly, in publishing & promoting results (e.g. https://veop.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/vvv-ii.pdf).
Positive impact is due to co-benefits of composting & field worms to soils. All crops/pastures in these studies had higher yields with less input cost (no chemicals, plus ‘wastes’ are free), whilst supporting more abundant soil biodiversity & sequestering carbon. Toxic downstream externalities are avoided in social, economic & ecological impacts to farmworkers’ families, to consumers & environment from biocides or runoff eutrophication of waterways & reefs. Darwin’s humble earthworm may be key to all these natural benefits with a challenge now to confirm organic yields, soil C data and earthworm biodiversity on a broader scale & in greater depth.
Lady Eve Balfour–originator of Soil Association–also said that the way to rebuild topsoil is: “Feed earthworms!”.
Language(s)
English, Tagalog, Hindi, Japanese.
Water
Significant improvement in soil moisture due to earthworm activity has been likened to a gift of rainfall or free irrigation. This is especially important for marginal lands or climatic extremes. Summary of my studies across temperate & tropics in both pasture & crops is soil moisture in organic fields compared to conventional neighbours averaged an extra +28% H2O. Compost does not leach carcinogenetic nitrates (WHO) into water nor eutrophy waterway/seas.
Food Security/Nutrition
Food security and self sufficiency are main themes of Permaculture that promotes personal/community gardens or ‘grow your own’. If costly & complex chemicals are replaced by vermi-composting, options are for rich or poor at any scale. Efficiency is in self-maintenance design. Studies presented here prove higher yields in organic pastures & broadacre crops with earthworms. As to nutrition I make no comment except that many synthetic chemicals are toxic.
Economic/Sustainable Development
Sustainability is in data of 1,000 yr Haughley pasture & the other fields organic for +40 yrs. Indore was established by Howard 100 yrs ago. Philippine farms are more recent but well established & operate economically. Especially remarkable is Permaculture techniques to rebuild topsoil in short time using Yeomans’ Keyline in just 3 yrs. Geoff Lawton's “Greening the Desert” project in Jordan also has restoration in a few yrs.
Climate
Soil is greatest C sink & only solution to climate problems even if emissions continue! Surprisingly, it has so little attention as C removal from air (CCS) is via photosynthesis into stable SOM (= worm worked humus). There is no viable alternative. Given that all plant litter/carbon passes via intestines of worms in 12-yr cycles, they are crucial. Organic farming is now on climate agenda as the way to restore topsoil while providing food. Permaculture is adaptable; I add worms.
Sustainability
My basic research has relied on limited grants & intermittent funds. Farmers options in some cases are for subsidy: E.g., Philippines Republic Act requires a proportion of organic production; Japan has subsidy for new farmers but also supports chemical use by 50% while in NZ it is about 1%. Thus government policies vary. However the yield increases reported in this solution (mean +39%) translate as extra market revenue, especially when certified organic. In developing economies the benefits are more direct & immediate but all initial outlays are modest and, with proper design, operation costs are low. The philosophy is that Nature is self-sustaining when nurtured, regardless of costs/profits.
Return on investment
Potentially it is free. This solution relies on natural activity of both compost & field earthworms. Establishing vermicomposting would have modest cost as also with farms in organic transition. The economics would factor-in savings in chemical use by recycling organic waste / manures as fertilizers plus less water use but possibly extra labour. Yields, that from my studies increased up to +80%, and organic premiums on produce would be further ROI considerations. In New Zealand studies, use of earthworms was found the most cost effective of all pasture production options. In Tasmania, farmer Bert Farquhar praised his millions of ranch worms for their free service.
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Replication and Scale
How could we successfully replicate this solution elsewhere?
Solution here is from natural origin of traditional farming up to Organic 3.0. A criticism of organics is its small scale that cannot “Feed the World”. The current study proves pastures & major staples of wheat & rice plus sugarcane. A huge discrepancy is allocation of funds. Despite providing 99% of food, soil has almost zero support with no SOIL ECOLOGY INSTITUTE while marine / space research is lavish. Agrichemical R&D is $31.7 billion (FAO) yet organic research is left to individuals or NGOs so just <1% of farmland is now organic. A fraction of funds redirected to soil ecology & earthworm study is easily justified on merit & benefits at any scale. On a personal level, a strategy advocated by Bill Mollison, co-founder of Permaculture, is to teach teachers. Essence of my solution is to promote Permaculture along with earthworm eco-taxonomy to an increasing number of students who may, in turn, teach others this appropriate way forward.