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but the carbon footprint of the food produced tends to be appalling." What do you think?
Quote from: caroline7758 on August 07, 2017, 09:43:26 but the carbon footprint of the food produced tends to be appalling." What do you think? Well I'd like to see some actual figures for allotments rather than an unsubstantiated claim but I guess it really depends on how you garden..
I'd like to have seen an explanation for the appalling carbon fort print of allotment food. Any ideas
We are always being told to be environmentally friendly and to reduce our carbon footprint wherever we can and allotments can go a long way in helping us achieve that.
If peat bogs are good carbon sinks, why is peat that gardeners put into the ground not? I know this is 'devil's advocate' speak, (peat bogs are still being depleted and gardeners are the culprits), but I have never been able to find out why peat is only doing this in peat bogs?
Can u elaborate on why allotments have 'appalling carbon footprint'
Because even a successful allotment has a tiny yield per person hours compared to a conventional farm.
On this specific point, peat in bogs doesn't decay because it's permanently waterlogged which keeps the oxygen level very low. Bog plants don't grow very fast, but the rate of decay is even slower so over time (1000s of years) the peat builds up. When peat soils are drained, or the peat is dug up and applied to gardens, it's no longer waterlogged and begins to decay back to CO2. A small % might survive long term as additional soil organic matter, but most of it will eventually disappear. There are parts of the fens where the soil level has dropped by several metres following drainage, as the peat soil has gradually oxidised away.