Carbon FARMing
methods
What is Carbon Farming?
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Carbon Farming is any method of growing food, fuel, and fiber that sequesters carbon into living soils. Globally, up to 30% of greenhouse gas emissions are linked to agriculture. We evaluate agricultural methods that have the potential to sequester tons of CO2 while adding value to our traditional farming systems.
: a vegetated area ("buffer strip") near water, usually forested, which helps shade and protect waterways from the impact of adjacent land uses.
Our namesake, the Caney Fork River, runs through Gore Farms for over 2 miles. While typical riparian buffers are 50 ft wide, we advocate reforesting 200 ft wide unfenced buffers in order to safeguard water quality for all downstream. In order to shield young seedling trees from browsing deer, our farmers use protective tubes.
Orchard Agroforestry
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: a method of agriculture incorporating the cultivation and conservation of fruit and nut trees, intentionally integrated with crop and animal farming systems to create environmental, economic and social benefits.
Caney Fork Farms endeavors to create an agricultural model based on the abundant productivity of our region's native ecosystems. By mimicking nature and emphasizing commercially viable elements within natural systems, our farms are demonstrating how agriculture may adapt to and even help mitigate climate change while simultaneously adding value to traditional farming systems.
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3,000 Oaks
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3,000 Hickory
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2,000 Chestnut
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& hundreds more
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Honey Locusts
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Mulberries
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Paw Paws
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Persimmons
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Apples
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Pears
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Peaches
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Plums
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Black Locusts
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Blueberries
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Blackberries
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Pecans
Planned grazing of dense livestock herds work in conjunction with the trees, shrubs and grasslands to sink carbon and effectively cycle, store, and utilize soil nutrients more efficiently than a monoculture of any singular species. Lush grasses and clovers provide a year round supply of nutrient dense forage for the livestock. While overhead, a steadily maturing canopy will provide cooling shade, diverse seasonal forage and wind breaking shelter.
Conservation tillage
: a regenerative agricultural practice integral to soil-carbon sequestration in crop production, designed to build soil health, provide nutrients, limit pest and disease cycles using long-term, integrated approaches
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Conservation Tillage Techniques:
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Heavy cover cropping
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Residue mulching
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Adapted roller/crimper for small scale vegetables
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Compost mulching for weed suppression
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Extended crop rotations
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No-till drill seeding
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Contour planting
"Whether we fail or not, we shall not be kept from continuing our mission by those who claim it can't be done ...Indeed the whole of agricultural and livestock science and even human medicine, if sound, is merely the business of discovering certain natural patterns already in existence, putting together the various pieces and discovering their relationship to the whole universe; indeed such a process is science itself."
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-Louis Bromfield, Malabar Farm