Chinese delegation visits Marin research site

A delegation from China's Ministry of Agriculture visited a Marin County ranch on Wednesday to view a collaborative research project aimed at sequestering carbon in rangeland. The visit was covered by Contra Costa Times reporter Mark Prado.

The research collaborators, which includes UC Cooperative Extension, are studying whether application of compost on rangeland will boost plant growth, which in turn would store more carbon. Research leader UC Berkeley professor Whendee Silver shared with the delegation promising early results gleaned from the first year of the five-year project.

"Plants are pulling carbon out of the atmosphere and ... they put it below ground into soils, into their root systems," Silver was quoted in the story. "You can see that our experimental plot is much greener than the control plot. We grew much more grasses by adding compost."

The Chinese visitors' interpreter, Charles Han, told the reporter the visitors wanted to learn more about the process, according to the article.

"They are very interested in land and grass issues," Han was quoted. "We have a lot of land in China."

The Marin Carbon Project is being conducted on Nicasio Native Grass Ranch and involves the Marin Agricultural Land Trust, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Marin Organic, UCCE in Sonoma and Marin counties, the Marin Resource Conservation District, and the UC Berkeley Department Science, Policy and Management Department.

More information is on the Marin Carbon Project Web site.

Rangeland owners may be able to sequester more carbon on their land.

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