Stalwart soil carbon business Loam Bio has received a boost with new joint research between the company and Western Sydney University (WSU) finding its fungi-based soil treatments can play a big role in increasing soil carbon stocks and critically their stability.
Subscribe now for unlimited access to all our agricultural news
across the nation
or signup to continue reading
Loam Bio's Carbon Builder product, available for use in three broadacre crops utilises a treatment of various fungi strains which Loam says helps bolster soil carbon by creating fungal networks within the soil, enhancing plant nutrient uptake and carbon sequestration in the soil.
Chief product officer at Loam Robbie Oppenheimer said the WSU research demonstrated that Loam's fungi strains have the potential to increase carbon sequestration in soil and enhance the stability of soil carbon.
"It is really good in a space where there is a lot of conflicting information to be able to point to what we are doing and to point to external research that shows what we are doing works," Dr Oppenheimer said.
He said there were some strong results in the trial data.
"We saw up to 9.4 per cent higher levels of carbon in soil compared to planting without fungi, and up to twice as newly photosynthesised carbon sequestered in soil," he said.
"There was also up to 20pc more resistant carbon, which implies that sequestered carbon is less susceptible to being lost, which is a really important factor for farmers looking to have a consistent result with their carbon capture."
He said one theory as to why the fungi was working was that it was storing more carbon, 21pc, in soil aggregates.
"This could explain the increased stability of soil carbon due to physical protection of carbon from decomposition."
Dr Oppenheimer said the results were compelling reading for broadacre croppers whether they were looking at the Loam suite of products for an on-farm carbon project or simply looking to improve soil structure.
"We're seeing the improvements in soil health which will in turn bolster yields, so this means farmers can confidently look to boost soil health whatever their targeted outcome is, at the end of the day most farmers are custodians of their land and want to improve it whether there is a credit scheme involved or not."
Gregor Heard
Gregor Heard is ACM's national grains industry reporter, based in Horsham, Victoria. He has a wealth of knowledge surrounding the cropping sector through his 15 years in the role. Prior to that he was with the Fairfax network as a reporter with Stock & Land. Some of the major issues he has reported on during his time with the company include the deregulation of the export wheat market, the introduction of genetically modified crops and the fight to protect growers better from grain trader insolvencies. Still involved with the family farm he is passionate about rural Australia and its people and hopes to use his role to act as an advocate for those involved in the grain sector.
Gregor Heard is ACM's national grains industry reporter, based in Horsham, Victoria. He has a wealth of knowledge surrounding the cropping sector through his 15 years in the role. Prior to that he was with the Fairfax network as a reporter with Stock & Land. Some of the major issues he has reported on during his time with the company include the deregulation of the export wheat market, the introduction of genetically modified crops and the fight to protect growers better from grain trader insolvencies. Still involved with the family farm he is passionate about rural Australia and its people and hopes to use his role to act as an advocate for those involved in the grain sector.
