Daily Herald opinion: A tweak to farming looks like a big gain in the climate change fight

This editorial is a consensus opinion of the Daily Herald Editorial Board.

Don't till the land. That's the basis of regenerative farming, what Benjamin Haberthur, the executive director of the Kane County Forest Preserve District, is calling "the answer to climate change."

Jenny Whidden, our climate reporter, wrote this month on how regenerative farming preserves the health of soil, enabling it to curb global warming. Kane County's and other counties' districts are promoting it by employing it on land they have available before they can get to restoring that land to natural prairie and woodland.

Don't till the land. Plant and cycle crops all year, even in winter. Let cows, pigs, chickens and even buffalo graze there. Otherwise let the soil be and nature take its course.

Could it be that simple to curb climate change? The explanations are compelling.

"With annual cropping ..., you totally destroy the soil," said Cliff McConville, a former Loop commuter who now farms within the Brunner Family Forest Preserve through a long-term lease with the Kane County district. "All those organisms that are working together underneath the soil, if you flip that over and expose them, they all die. ... We've got to have a live root in that soil that holds it in place year-round so it doesn't go away in the wind or the rain."

Untilled soil, with the organisms and therefore crops still in it, absorb carbon, while tilling sends that carbon into the atmosphere, adding to global warming. The untilled soil basically does the same work as trees. The animals do the trimming, plus they help refeed the soil - "they eat it down, they poop on it, they trample it," as McConville says.

The trend is growing as conservationists and even some farmers help the practice grow. But if it were so easy, why isn't everyone doing it? Of course, there are some catches.

While some advocates say farmers can save some time and money by not having to plow and purchase as much equipment and fuel, it might take a few years for long-tilled soil to rebound to its natural state and generate the harvest farmers have been accustomed to. Also, there can be somewhat of an environmental catch to the no-tilling approach: Weeds could be harder to control, plant diseases harder to prevent and insects harder to contain if crop residue is left on untilled land. That could actually require more chemical treatments, though more natural approaches are being tried. Patience is required, and some farmers may not have it while they have livelihoods to maintain.

In addition to our forest preserve districts urging regenerative farming, the federal government is helping farmers switch to the practice, such as with $20 billion in last year's climate and energy spending deal. The money expands programs that help farmers turn their soil less, rotate crops and plant cover crops.

We urge the help for farmers. The conservationists are on to something here, and it does indeed look like this could be a huge gain in the fight against climate change.