Tough grasses may be key to new carbon sink Drought-tolerant
perennial pastures could make a big dent in Australia's
greenhouse emissions by helping soils to soak up carbon, says
one researcher. But not everyone is convinced this approach
really locks away as much carbon in the soil as claimed. Tim
Wiley, a pastures agronomist from Western Australia's Department
of Agriculture and Food, says early findings from a trial of
perennial pastures are "exciting". "They appear to have an
exceptional ability to build up carbon in the soil," he says of
the naturally drought-tolerant pastures. "If this preliminary
data is right and you start extrapolating it over crop and
pasture land in Australia, we could make a very big dent on
Australia's emissions." Soil carbon has decreased to between a
half and a third its original levels since European agriculture
was introduced. Today, 16% of Australia's annual greenhouse
gases come from agriculture. Wiley says trials of deep-rooted
perennial sub-tropical grasses, such as Rhode