Improving soil could keep world within 1.5C heating target, research suggests

The level of carbon stored in the ground can now be assessed down to the level of individual fields, which could help farmers to sell carbon credits. Photograph: Image Source/Getty Images

Marginal improvements to agricultural soils around the world would store enough carbon to keep the world within 1.5C of global heating, new research suggests.

Farming techniques that improve long-term fertility and yields can also help to store more carbon in soils but are often ignored in favour of intensive techniques using large amounts of artificial fertiliser, much of it wasted, that can increase greenhouse gas emissions.