The Centre&#39;s research programme on soil carbon is designed to move beyond quantifying how much soil carbon is stored in agricultural soils into the challenging area of understanding the processes driving soil carbon storage and, crucially, manipulating these processes so that agricultural soil carbon is conserved and, where possible, increased.  



Goals & Objectives 


Increasing the quantity of carbon stored in agricultural soils has the potential to offset emissions of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. However, realising this potential is technically challenging, especially when soil carbon stocks are already high as they are in New Zealand. The NZAGRC&#39;s programme has three distinct components (1) assessing the potential to store carbon across the range of physical and climatic conditions found in New Zealand, (2) devising management practises that can increase the long term soil carbon store and (3) methods for verifying that soil carbon stocks have been changed. 



 


 


	
		
			
			
			Objective 
			
			
			
			
			Leader 
			
			
			
			
			Timeframe 
			
			
		
		
			
			
			3.1 
			
			
			
			
			Limits of soil carbon storage in New Zealand soils 
			
			
			
			
			Dr Mike Beare 
			
			
			
			
			Apr 10 - Jun 12 
			
			
		
		
			
			
			3.2 
			
			
			
			
			Quantifying the carbon currently stored in New Zealand soils 
			
			
			
			
			Dr Allan Hewitt 
			
			
			
			
			Apr 10 - Jun 12 
			
			
		
		
			
			
			3.3 
			
			
			
			
			Process-based modelling of drivers of soil carbon change 
			
			
			
			
			Prof Tony Parsons 
			
			
			
			
			Apr 10 - Jun 14 
			
			
		
		
			
			
			3.4 
			
			
			
			
			Manipulation of carbon inputs, incorporation and retention to protect and enhance soil carbon 
			
			
			
			
			Dr David Whitehead 
			
			
			
			
			Apr 10 - Jun 14 
			
			
		
		
			
			
			3.5 
			
			
			
			
			Improved soil carbon measurements 
			
			
			
			
			Prof Frank Kelliher 
			
			
			
			
			Apr 10 - Jun 14 
			
			
		
	






Principal Investigators  


Professor Frank Kelliher, AgResearch
Dr David Whitehead, Landcare Research  



Linkages 


AgMardt
AgResearch
Agriculture & AgriFood, Canada
Colorado State University, USA
CSIRO Land & Water, Australia
Landcare Research
Lincoln University
Massey University
New South Wales DPI, Australia
Plant & Food Research
Scion
University of California, Davis, USA
Waikato University 


Stories 


NZAGRC Newsletter February 2012 Page 6
NZAGRC Newsletter November 2011 Page 4
NZAGRC Newsletter August 2011 Page 6 
NZAGRC Newsletter December 2010 Page 4