On December 15, with the support of the Forum “Saint Petersburg Dialogue”, the Round Table “Agricultural climate projects” was held in St. Petersburg.

The main themes to be discussed were agricultural climate projects and soil microbiological research. Nikolay Dmitrievich Durmanov, Special Representative on Biological and Environmental Safety at the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, took part in the Round Table. In his welcoming speech, he stressed significance of the agricultural sector in decarbonizing the Russian economy and reducing greenhouse-gas emissions in general.

The theme of soil potential in the field of soil carbon deposition was voiced by Daniil Nikolayevich Kozlov, First Deputy Director of Dokuchaev Soil Institute, presenting the report on conducted and planned research within this theme in framework of the most important innovative project of national significance (VIP GZ) “Monitoring”. One of these sites is the agricultural carbon landfill in the Samara Region, where influence of nature-like technologies of soil-protective resource-saving agriculture on soil conservation and soil carbon deposition is being studied. FRC “Dokuchaev Soil Institute” plans to expand the network of agricultural carbon landfills for research up to 40.

Agricultural climate projects are one of the most pressing and controversial issues on the climate agenda.
The agricultural carbon landfill of the Samara Region and the climate project were presented by Vladimir Igorevich Platonov, Head of the Department of Ecology and Life Safety at Samara National Research University, Natalia Mikhailovna Trots, Dean of the Faculty of Agronomy at the Samara State Agrarian University, and Elena Aleksandrovna Zakharova, Researcher at Non-Profit Partnership “National Movement of Conservation Agriculture” (NDSZ).

Firstly, this is due to the difficulties in measuring organic carbon and the different methods to be adopted in agrochemical laboratories, both in Russia and abroad. The Tyurin method to be used in most laboratories in the country, is considered inaccurate and outdated, which has caused debates on quality of data on primary content of soil organic carbon. On the other hand, the lack of alternatives at the moment, from the point of view of analyzing the data for previous periods, puts the scientific and agricultural community in front of the need to search for alternatives. For example, it was proposed to use the dry combustion method more actively, as well as available capabilities of Samara University in chromatography. Besides, Evgeny Vasilyevich Abakumov, Head of the Department of Applied Ecology at St. Petersburg State University, suggested using nomograms, which will allow assessing the dynamics of soil change in terms of typical indicators for a particular region and area.

Secondly, it is worth noting the fact that in the Russian Federation, there is no single accepted methodology for estimating greenhouse emissions in agriculture. The Order dated 2022 provides the methodology for calculating carbon dioxide emissions and carbon sequestration, but does not provide the full-fledged methodology for calculating nitrogen oxides, the greenhouse effect from which is relatively greater. At the Round Table, there was a lively discussion with representatives of verification and validation agencies in terms of opportunities and limitations of applying methodologies.

Oksana Sergeevna Gogunskaya, CEO of Kontur JSC, and Victoria Yurievna Vertyankina, Researcher at the Department for Monitoring Greenhouse Gas Fluxes in Natural and Anthropogenic Disturbed Ecosystems, Academician Yu.A. Israel Institute of Global Climate and Ecology, actively participated in the discussion . During the seminar, the report by Regina Cheslavovna Yuranets-Luzhaeva, describing all the stages to be completed to register a climate project, was also presented.

On the other hand, there are a number of issues related to the potential for carbon sequestration in agriculture on the whole. Thus, according to experts, the maximum rate of organic-carbon deposition is 1 t/ha, which, from viewpoint of business representatives, in particular Tatyana Romanenkova, Senior Manager for Creating and Managing Climate Projects at Sibur PJSC, may currently be out of potential investors’ interest. However, it should be noted that the main task of agricultural climate projects is preserving fertility of Russian soils, for ensuring food security and health of the country’s population, with the opportunity for agricultural producers to gain additional income from the sale of carbon units. To this end, support from both the government and business, both large and small farms, is needed.

The debatable and controversial nature of a number of issues once again emphasized that agricultural climate projects and the carbon market in Russia are currently at the stage of formation, and there is still a long way to go.

In the second part of the Round Table, microbiological aspects of soil health were discussed. Last year the St. Petersburg Round Table was entirely dedicated to soil microbiology, and a year later the organizers and participants were able to summarize the main results. Firstly, the course of lectures on soil microbiology prepared by All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Agricultural Meteorology (VNIISHM) for agricultural producers was held. The course, which was participated by leading experts in soil and, in particular, agricultural microbiology, highlighted key practical issues of soil microbiota, its role in agriculture and basic microbiological preparations. Secondly, the data for 2022 of the research in the territory of the agrarian carbon landfill of the REC “Engineering of the Future” at the Orlovka-AIC Farm were presented. The research was conducted under supervision of Artem Viktorovich Lyamin, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor at the Department of General and Clinical Microbiology, Immunology and Allergology of Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education (FGBOU VO) “Samara State Medical University” of the Russian Ministry of Health. It has been demonstrated that in the framework of the cultural method, it is possible to isolate over 1,000 species of microorganisms, which makes this method a potential alternative to genetic sequencing, since it not only allows assessing quality of microorganisms, but also their direct metabolism, as well as opens up opportunities for their isolation, cultivation and creation of biological products for each individual farm. Possible prospects for developing new biologic preparations, in particular based on mycorrhiza, were also discussed.

In general, the Round Table, on the one hand, continued to discuss the issues to be raised last year, and, on the other hand, raised a number of new issues requiring to be discussed and resolved. And their solution is possible only with the joint work of the scientific community, agricultural producers, business and government representatives.