The University of Brescia, Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa, and Eni Enrico Mattei Foundation (FEEM) together to assess the benefits of carbon farming practices in combating climate change. Thanks to funding from the Fondazione Cariplo under the "Data Science for Climate and Agriculture" call, the DS-CHANGES research project, with a two-year duration, begins. It is led by Prof. Davide Bazzana from the University of Brescia and aims to design policy frameworks promoting carbon farming in agriculture of Lombardy.
Potential Benefits of Carbon Farming
DS-CHANGES explores the yet untapped potential of agricultural lands to store large amounts of carbon dioxide, the primary greenhouse gas and utilize it in the form of organic matter to enhance soil fertility. In addition to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, carbon farming can also bring additional sustainability benefits such as increased biodiversity, reduced water pollution, improved efficiency in the use of natural resources and consequently, greater profit for farmers who decide to experiment with this system already widespread in the United States, Canada, and Australia.
The Role of the Consortium in DS-CHANGES
The research team from the Institute of Economics at the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa is responsible for activities aimed at developing a high-resolution dataset using various data sources at the farm level. This dataset can be used to identify the key factors leading to the adoption of carbon farming techniques and to assess the minimum price to be assigned to “carbon credits” (i.e., subsidies based on the CO2 sequestration activity performed by the farm) to make them economically viable.
This data will form the basis for creating and informing an agent-based model developed by the research team from the Department of Economics and Management at the University of Brescia. The model will make medium-term forecasts on the adoption of carbon farming practices (with Lombardy agriculture as the first case study), integrating biophysical, socioeconomic, and ecosystemic modeling approaches to simulate both natural and social sectors. The model will then produce mid-century projections of alternative climate and policy scenarios to assess the impact of carbon farming.
Finally, the team from the Eni Enrico Mattei Foundation (FEEM) will take care of effectively disseminating the project results to academic and policy communities, as well as to industrial stakeholders and civil society.