Basalt Rock
"How does basalt rock affect pH?
Basalt rock is recognized for its soil-alkalizing properties, effectively enhancing soil pH. Over time, it could become a potential alternative to traditional lime for pH adjustment, albeit with some variations in action. Lime rapidly elevates soil pH, while basalt rock works gradually, ensuring long-term pH stability. This slow-release quality may establish it as a more sustainable method for pH management, preventing gradual pH decline.
Sustaining a slightly higher soil pH through the use of basalt rock can enhance the availability of essential nutrients, such as phosphate, reducing the need for additional fertilizers.
If your soil analysis reveals an immediate pH decrease, it is advisable to employ a quick-acting neutralizing agent, starting with the standard lime application, followed by the application of basalt rock. Lime will promptly rectify soil pH, while basalt rock will help maintain this pH level over an extended duration.
Switching to periodic applications of basalt rock every 3-5 years should lead to consistent soil pH maintenance. This approach offers two key advantages:
Cost Savings: By reducing the requirement for lime, you can lower expenses.
Nutrient Protection: With a stable pH level, nutrient availability remains steady, safeguarding crop yields.
If your soil pH has not significantly declined and you wouldn't typically apply lime this year, consider incorporating basalt rock into your soil management strategy. This proactive measure can avert pH drift and potentially eliminate the need for future liming, ensuring ongoing nutrient availability for your soil.
Sustainability for the target of net zero in 2050
We at the moment in time are in a crisis in the world with ongoing natural disasters such as wildfires, droughts, flooding, unexpected heat waves, starvation, pollution of the Seas and on land but also the excessive amount of CO2 produced in the World.
There are very sustainable ideas coming to the forefront for carbon capture or carbon secretion, planting new woodland creating Forestry also developing natural habitats for wildlife,insects, birds, creating a natural floodplain, carbon filtration systems, new ways and thinking of exhaust emissions, less use of fossil fuels, cleaner ways of living,etc all these are very good for the future.
But at this moment in time these ideas are going to take years to eradicate CO2 or to capture the carbon that the World is now producing at an alarming rate.
As a developed Society of human beings, have in the past not cared or not realized how much damage that we are in the only home that we all know and without a drastic change in our habits then I'm very sorry to say that life as we now could terminate a lot sooner than what previously was thought.
So when it comes to sustainability of life on this earth there are factors that mother nature has provided for us for thousands of years, the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food that we eat. These are three essential parts of life that we cannot do without, but slowly and now becoming more rapidly we are destroying these elements we so desperately need to survive. The air that we breathe now is coming more heavily polluted with CO2 gases and causing global warming. The water that we drink is now becoming heavily polluted with chemicals, phosphates, plastic the list can go on and on.
The food that we eat is now becoming more expensive to grow.
The land that is used in farming practices which are being pushed more and more to produce more food off less land are becoming more polluted.
Soil erosion is now degrading the very thin layer of soil that can actually grow food the soil is also being polluted by using various chemicals which damage the infrastructure of the natural ecosystem and the microorganisms that we heavily depend on.
We must remember that the numerous animals, insects and bacteria that help us throughout our daily lives.
Two such examples are the humble earthworm.
Without these digesting and breaking down manure, decaying leafs, the soil structures that food cannot be grown properly.
The same can be said for the humble bee. Without their hard work we would not have pollination, which again in turn we would not have food to survive.
We all must remember sustainability that, in a World which is growing at a staggering rate of 83 million annually, but the actual land in the whole World that can be used to grow food for sustaining life is only a very small percentage, how long can that go on and keep up with the amount of new mouths to feed in the upcoming years?
We have to also remember that for all the new mouths that have to be fed there has to be homes built, new road infrastructures, more water use, more CO2 produced.
There is also evidence to suggest that the fertility in the soil in the UK will only last for another 30 to 40 years.
I very much hope that this does not happen.
So we are indeed in a crisis of what to do, can this World sustain the future that we are building and making?
We have become accustomed to our lifestyles, we have become custom to having easy and quick transport, holidays, mobile phones, the list is endless but is its sustainable to keep doing this?
Yes we do need to create and maintain a better cleaner environment for all, but also an environment that can substain with all the new modern technology and practices that we now use and how sustain this environment that we have now created.
We need at this point in time a quicker way of helping clean and care for our environment, but is this possible and is this sustainable? I believe the answer to this question is yes, but how you may ask?
Mother nature has given us all, through the centuries elements to develop humanity, but mother nature has actually given us a product that can help in many ways.
The product that I am talking about is Basalt, which derives from granite stone which was formed millions of years ago.
Basalt is a very unique product and one which used correctly can very much give a sustainable future for us all.
So you may ask what is this wonder product.
Basalt crushed down to a dust form and applied on Farmland or ground that can produce, whether it's be crops, grassland or trees shows great benefits for absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere to the root of the plants which then can be stored and eventually deposited in the sea and stored safely for thousands of years.
When you apply between 4½ ton to 5 ton of basalt dust per 1 acre of land you should be able to absorb between 10/12 metric ton of carbon per 1 acre per year this is a great advantage of absorbing and storing CO2 at a lot faster rate, for example if you spread 4,000 acres of land you would hopefully capturing 48,000 metric tons of carbon.
It is indeed a long way off of the intended 20 to 30 million tons of carbon captured and storage per year until 2030 and then 50 million tons of carbon per year by 2035.
Yes it is a very difficult task, but every journey in life starts with the first step.
But with 41.619 million acres available on Farmland in the UK the potential to capture, store and offset carbon is a very realistic, viable, cost effective option.
But there are more benefits to Basalt then just the carbon capture.
Basalt has a unique feature unlike other volcanic rock,dolomite for example which only does carbon secretion, basalt that has many vital trace elements which is very beneficial for the environment. Another great importance of basalt is the ability to improve the soil structure on absorbing more water to help reduce flooding, basalt because of its trace elements, can help on Farmland reduce the artificial input of man-made products.
This in turn will help with the pollution in the water system and not producing more CO2 emissions from machinery admissions.
As basalt can be used as a conditioning fertilizer, it has the potential to increase food production at lower costs, in third World Countries that do not produce man-made fertilizers, volcanic dust has been used for decades and has proved to aid the growth of all plants.
We have noticed in using basalt on our own ground at Chapel House Farm that you do not have to use sprays that kill thistles, nettles, dock leaves etc which in turn is a great benefit to the humble earthworm and the humble bee we have also noticed the unbelievable growth in grass which is very much needed in carbon secretion because the more and longer grass that you can produce the more CO2 can be stored, but there is a another great side to draw in all this CO2 out of the air is the fact that by using the plant or tree cycles we will be producing more oxygen needed for cleaner air all year round, also the water saturation of the ground is greatly improved so that in summer months the ground is not so easily burned off thus allowing the crops to keep growing pulling in more CO2 and producing oxygen, but also due to the change in the soil structure you do not see the soil erosion in the Winter months which can stop the pollution of the water system and also save the vital top soil we need for removing and storing carbon.
So basalt has the potential to not only store carbon to clean our air, it can also help reduce pollutant in our water systems, restore our water tables, which would be extremely beneficial to aquatic Wildlife and also stop toxins in seafood which we eat.
It can potentially produce more food at less cost, but also help with reducing use of artificial products which would also help in reducing CO2 gas.
We as a business are extremely fortunate that we have been involved from the start of carbon secretion using basalt dust and have seen the benefits of using this product.
As we all know that every part of modern life produces carbon this has to be taken into account to be offset.
So by applying basalt dust we have the great potential to not only remove CO2 or carbon dioxide from the air, we can also reduce the pollution in our water courses, we could produce more food with less pollutants, It has to be remembered that basalt dust is a totally natural product and has been tested by independent Laboratories for ourselves and shows no harmful substances which is harmful for the environment.
The tests do show an improvement in the soil which has an great Environmental benefits.
It also has to be taken into account that by applying basalt to produce more crops that these in turn can be a great benefit to Society by being used to produce biofuels for use in modes of transport or industrial machines.
The crops could also be used in bio digesters to produce electricity for businesses, hospitals, homes, electric vehicles and again the gases produced such as methane or hydrogen can be used for various different ways in reducing our reliance on fossil fuels and thus reducing our carbon footprint.
It can also be considered that there would be more sustainability for communities as of job opportunities, not only in the local quarry, local forestry contractors as basalt spreading helps develop trees to grow stronger and faster, local trade people, local shops by having more local produce to sell, to cleaner air environment which reduces the stress off the NHS, but also the health, social life and mental well-being of the local communities of having cleaner water ways, wildlife returning into the rivers more natural habitats for all animals and bird's, improved nature walks or cycling with clearer air,the list is endless of possibilities to help improve and better not only Our Lives but the lives of future generations.
I believe that there will be great benefits for all involved in the next coming years, what we can start achieving in reducing our CO2 emissions, but also capturing and storing CO2 will be a very good template for the UK and also for the World stage that the UK can show what positive actions we are taking to tackle climate change.
I am very sorry to say that we cannot change the past or that we could see the foreseeable future on how the events for the environment will develop, but one thing I am sure of is we can certainly learn from our past mistakes and start to build a brighter, prosperous more environmentally friendly future.
At J & H Spreading and Agri Engineering Limited have been spreading agricultural products for past 20 years, the last five years has been at the forefront of spreading Basalt dust not only for trials and studies but also for our own customers benefits. And hopefully one stop shop for carbon offset to help businesses, companies and individuals achieve their net goals and scientific studies.
We have designed,developed and built spreaders that can handle the quantities needed to be applied in a cost effective way,not to damage the environment and the logistics for this operation there in turn using less CO2.
As we are an engineering firm, any specialized machinery needed to be built for sensitive or scientific areas can be made for these projects.
We also would have a customer base that could be used and agricultural or commercial ground offered for carbon secretion projects.
We also spread basalt dust for industrial companies or private customers that have purchased their own ground for carbon secretion.
This would also apply to companies that are doing major groundworks, building sites, or important infrastructure highways or railway links that after completion and reinstatement of the land, basalt dust could then be applied on this ground which then would go towards the carbon offset of these projects, but also improve the stability of the ground, reducing water runoff and producing a great habitat for wildlife, a lovely environment for local communities to enjoy.
We as a business are extremely fortunate that we have been involved from the start of carbon secretion using basalt dust and have seen the benefits of using this product.
We are extremely lucky to have a local Hanson granite Quarry producing basalt dust, which has been used in trials by ourselves and for our customers also for the Carbon Community and Farming Connect studies.
We have a fantastic relationship with various members of the Hanson team and with working alongside themselves they are now becoming accredited for the use of basalt for carbon offset and carbon capture which will be of great benefit to UK businesses. Companies and individuals that need to offset their carbon usage to achieve net zero by 2050 and would become an extremely important company to achieve these results, because the mining process and the haulage of basalt dust can be done and produced in a very cost efficient and with minimal CO2 produced.
Again we are extremely fortunate to have help from Cobb Agri which will be extremely beneficial in the carbon secretion as they have the technology and resources for soil sampling and testing needed to make sure that this is done compliantly with the government guidelines and recommendations to protect the environment, also the customer base that would be needed for the land needed for the basalt dust to be applied on for the carbon capture.
Another great advantage of having Cobb Agri involved with ourselves is the land that the basalt would be applied to is producing crops for human consumption, but also grassland for animal consumption which in turn would go into the food chain.
It is my belief in working in this partnership that we all could deliver a very cost effective,quicker way of net zero, but also a more sustainable future for businesses and companies which help the UK economy, agriculture in all various forms, communities for generations to come.
We very much hope that the one small step at the beginning of our journey for carbon capture will start with basalt Spreading.
If there is any more questions to be asked, or any more information needed,or a meeting on carbon capture, carbon credits, carbon offset, or any help needed, please do not hesitate to contact:-
