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Vanshika Madaan: Boosting Soil Carbon in California Orchards with Enhanced Weathering & Biomass Applications

Quick Summary

  • Vanshika Madaan: Boosting Soil Carbon in California Orchards with Enhanced Weathering & Biomass Applications

My IAD capstone project is part of a multi-year project aimed at understanding and quantifying the benefits of orchard recycling and enhanced weathering amendments applications towards soil health and soil carbon levels. Orchard recycling involves the removal of orchard biomass, mainly through wood chipping, and its subsequent incorporation back into the soil, rather than burning, which significantly harms air quality and contributes to rising carbon emissions. The second practice – enhanced weathering – is a geo-engineering technique that accelerates the natural breakdown of rocks to sequester carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere. The study is collaborating with an Australian agri-tech start-up that will supply basaltic quarry by-products to serve as a soil amendment for enhanced weathering on farms. 

The study encompasses 3 farm sites across California, and these are orchards mainly growing almonds and walnuts. The locations include Lost Hills in Kern County, Orland, and Linden. The overarching hypothesis of the larger study is that the combination of orchard recycling and enhanced weathering amendment will enhance soil carbon storage more effectively than either practice alone. 

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The capstone project comprises of establishing trial blocks at the participating orchards, collecting soil samples for baseline analysis, and extrapolating current findings to assess various future scenarios for greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets through orchard recycling and enhanced weathering amendments. The extrapolation will be conducted through data analysis and modeling, using the DNDC model and ArcGIS software. Scenario analysis will be used to judge the impacts of scaling up these practices and their potential to advance sustainable agriculture in California, and possibly beyond. Additionally, the results will also be used to review the feasibility of using these practices to access carbon credit markets for growers. A key economic value, aside from environmental benefits, of capturing and storing carbon in the soil is generating a carbon-credit based revenue stream. This financial support will enable growers to further invest in sustainable practices. 

All the soil samples data collection took place this summer. I conducted several field trips to the orchard sites to assess the trial blocks and engage with the growers about the overall project. This experience was invaluable as it provided insight into the practicalities of agricultural projects at the ground level and showed how research steps and timelines are influenced by external factors such as farmers’ work schedules, weather and soil conditions, accurate labeling of sample points, and proper soil storage. These often-overlooked details can prove to be critical for effective project planning and lab data analysis. The process also bettered my understanding of how farmers think about agricultural studies, their priorities and the reasoning behind them, and the outcomes that would be most helpful for them in the long-term. I am currently conducting soil lab analysis to gather baseline data, which will be used to generate future scenario models for analysis in the coming months!

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