A Framework for Agricultural Decarbonisation: Environmental Assessment from Seed to Soil of a Cradle-To-Cradle Farm System with Industrial Hemp and Pyrogenic Carbon Capture & Storage

Abstract

The design of the global economy has already caused humanity to cross the planetary boundaries and currently, no turn-around is in sight. The Agri-Food Sector, specifically, is responsible for 26% of anthropogenic global warming, deforestation, loss of biodiversity, eutrophication, and other negative impacts, for which its inefficient and linear resource and land use can be held responsible. This research proposes a self-offsetting cradle-to-cradle farm system design with dual cropping of industrial hemp and downstream pyrolysis to create biochar as soil fertiliser to gradually regenerate the land used. The environmental assessment of this seed to soil scenario indicates an annual net negative carbon dioxide equivalent sequestration of over 1000 tons with 100+ years of durability as tradeable carbon dioxide removal certificates, not including the increases in Soil Organic Carbon. Simultaneously, the net energy production of over 2100 MW/year of clean, decentralised, and politically independent thermal energy as a substitution for natural gas is asserted. The examined project scenario estimates 187 tons of proteins from hempseed on 588 hectares, which makes the Land Use roughly 50 times more efficient in comparison to the production of beef, and generally competitive with most other protein sources. The estimation of impacts at a sufficient scale that satisfies oilseed demands of 2030 indicates annual carbon removal of 100 million tons and emissions avoided through substitution of animal proteins of a range of approximately 1 to 9 gigatons. The assessment implies a solution that can be implemented today already and aid the decarbonisation of the agricultural food supply-chain that is desperately called for. Furthermore, the proposed framework allows for numerous ecological co-benefits that can fundamentally help to regenerate regional ecosystems and create new resilience without compensating profitability on the farm level. Future research should concentrate on the effects of the biochar-to-soil application, as these are only elaborated on but not yet quantified. Also, the focus of this research lies on the impact categories Global Warming Potential and Cumulated Energy Demand, and, in combination with the quantification of biochar-to-soil effects, improvements in other impact categories, for example, eutrophication, can be expected as well.

Keywords: Carbon Dioxide Removal, Agriculture, Hemp, Pyrolysis, PyCCS, Food Security

JEL Classification: Q15, Q18, Q20, Q51, Q57