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Cover crops: actors in carbon sequestration

April 4, 2022

Cover crops: actors in carbon sequestration

The 2018 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (GIEC) indicates that to keep the temperature increase below +1.5°C compared to the pre-industrial period, it would be necessary to achieve global carbon neutrality by 2050. 

Agriculture plays an important role in the impact on the environment.

One of the major solutions known is not to leave the soil bare by sowing a suitable intercrop. This is a beneficial opportunity for our soils and farmers' operating results, and an effective lever for the ecological transition of the agricultural world.

According to the INRAE (French National Institute for Research on Agriculture, Food and the Environment), these intermediate crops can immobilise up to 370 kg of carbon per hectare each year.

The choice of cover crops  plays a major role in this quest for carbon neutrality. The right cover crop acts effectively and simultaneously by sequestering carbon in the soil and avoiding greenhouse gas emissions (N2O and CO2) by returning fertilising elements.

Today, tools available to farmers estimate the contribution of cover crops to soil fertility and climate impact.

Lidea proposes solutions for intermediate crops to store carbon in agricultural soils to allow farmers to access payments generated by the sale of carbon credits on voluntary markets and to achieve significant savings in nitrogen fertilization.

Our ready-to-use solutions:

Field analyses and modelling have shown that the average annual financial contribution of Lidcover Structur is between 140 and 260€/ha, of Lidcover Nitro between 100 and 225€/ha and between 80 and 190€/ha for Lidcover Winter, depending on the development of the cover.

Lidea cover crops are a natural and efficient way to preserve the soil and its fertility, it is also a step towards sustainable agriculture.