Standards Update:
Soil Carbon Improvement and
Monitoring Protocol
The Biodynamic Farm Standards were updated, published, and sent to Demeter members in March of 2023 with the Renewal email. Some of the standards revisions will be described below and in subsequent newsletters.
To read the full standard, follow this link to our website:
Demeter Biodynamic Farm Standard
Soil Carbon
Biodynamic farmers have long recognized that farming in accordance with the Demeter Biodynamic Farm Standard results in soil improvements. Using Biodynamic preparations, cover cropping, composting, livestock integration while growing their needed forage, and ensuring biodiversity improves the soil! Emphasizing on-farm fertility generation reduces the carbon footprint of our farms while storing carbon in healthy soils. As farmers, we notice our soils having improved tilth, better water infiltration, intoxicating fresh smells, and greater soil life and diversity.
Now, the Biodynamic Farm Standard requires that “soil carbon (i.e., humus) levels must be maintained and ideally increased over time.” To ensure this is happening on Demeter certified farms, we worked extensively last year with Dr. Will Brinton, founder of Woods End Laboratory, to develop a soil monitoring protocol that initially sets a baseline for soil organic matter or soil organic carbon levels in a representative area on a certified farm. Additionally, there is a general assessment of soil quality and health. Demeter has long relied on our inspectors to report on-farm assessment of soil, including signs of soil life, digestion of organic matter, and soil texture. This new protocol provides a worksheet with explanations to guide farmers through an evaluation of their soils when the soil moisture is suitable for soil life observations (ideal conditions are not always there when the inspector arrives). The protocol is chock-full of resources for better understanding one’s soil and for better understanding what each assessment and test reveals. The purpose of this protocol is not to focus on the best soils, rather to monitor a representative soil on the farm for changes or stability.
In the next month, Demeter will release the protocol to certified farms for monitoring soils over time. The soil sampling process delineates repeat samplings from the same field gathered at minimum once every three years. This ongoing sampling and testing is designed to demonstrate the impact of Biodynamic farming practices on soil health. The protocol is aimed at accommodating farmers’ financial and time constraints and can likely make use of existing testing, while providing verification that management practices are maintaining or improving soil quality and soil carbon. Inspectors will continue to assess soils when on site, but it is critical when determining qualitative changes in soil that an assessment be done when conditions are similar to the previous on-farm assessment.
The Soil Monitoring Protocol is comprised of two components. The first component includes a series of assessments that are recorded on the farm, based on observations of the farmer collecting the samples. Factors to be assessed include soil compaction, soil texture, diversity of macro-life, and percentage of ground covered by plants, among others. A worksheet details 8 areas of assessment, with ranking for each.
The second component of the Soil Monitoring Protocol involves a composite sample collected and submitted to a lab for testing. The test is required to include a report of either Soil Organic Matter percent or Soil Organic Carbon. Analyses can also include other common soil measurements such as pH, trace mineral levels, etc. The test can serve multiple purposes.
We are immensely thankful to Dr. Brinton for contributing his expertise and real-world experience with assessing soils to the process of developing this Protocol. We are also pleased to refresh and relaunch the soil monitoring project started by Demeter USA in 2018.
