Behind the Carbon Footprint

In November 2023, the Expert Council of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation approved the program of the first Russian agricultural carbon landfill "Agro Engineering". Samara National Research University became its operator, around whom a consortium of leading universities in the region and specialized institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences united, which was supported by industrial partners. Multidisciplinary research, which has been conducted in the Samara region on an initiative basis since 2021, has received state support. Today, we can already talk about the first scientific and practical results of experiments that will help ensure Russia's technological sovereignty and the sustainable development of our economy.

The course for decarbonization

Widespread reduction of carbon emissions, decarbonization – today this is one of the key trends in the economic policy of developed countries, and indeed the whole world. Scientists are working on methods for quantifying the carbon footprint in production, measuring carbon emissions and uptake by various ecosystems. For this purpose, special research sites are being opened – carbon landfills.

Governments of developed countries are discussing plans to achieve carbon neutrality and introduce a carbon tax on "dirty" products. Carbon unit markets have been launched in the USA and Canada, Europe and China, where industrial enterprises can buy carbon emission quotas from farmers who have provided carbon absorption. The farmer earns, and the industrialist reduces the carbon footprint of its products and increases their competitiveness.

Very soon, Russian export products will face barriers according to the criteria of carbon neutrality. That is why our country needs its own national carbon footprint calculation system, its own MRV protocol for measuring, monitoring and verifying changes in soil organic carbon reserves and greenhouse gas sequestration volumes. We need our own carbon quota market. And for their development, a network of carbon landfills covering all ecosystems of the country is needed. The first Russian carbon landfill of an agricultural orientation has been created and operates in the Samara region. To do this, our scientists and farmers had to go through a difficult, thorny path.

Samara is having a moment

In agriculture, decarbonization goes hand in hand with the paradigm of soil conservation and resource-saving agriculture (SRA), which is often referred to as carbon farming. The Samara region has long been one of the leading research centers on this topic. The ambassador of the idea of preserving and increasing soil fertility is Lyudmila Orlova, President of the National Movement of Conservation Agriculture (NMCA), creator and first director of the Samara agricultural machinery plant "Eurotechnika".

Over a decade of experimentation with new technologies in crop production, a team of like-minded partners has been formed on the basis of the Orlovka AIC Agricultural and Innovation center. Agrarians from all over Russia come to Samara for the annual scientific and practical conference "Climate, soil fertility, agrotechnologies", Russian and foreign scientists exchange research results here, government and business representatives contact each other.

Therefore, when in February 2021 the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia launched the project "Carbon landfills of the Russian Federation", it was the Samara region that was fully ready to create such a landfill in the agricultural area. And although our region did not get into the seven regions of the pilot project, in the same year 2021, an agricultural carbon landfill was created on an initiative basis.

In 2021-2023, the research was funded by the Orlovka AIC pilot farm and one of the industrial partners, the United Uralchem Company. When forming the scientific program, the researchers relied on the protocols of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

Valery Falkov, Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation:

“Every year, over four years, new landfills have been included in the community. Carbon landfills are not just sites in various ecosystems, they are about everything related to completely different agriculture. This area has great capacities in terms of solving issues of reducing the carbon footprint.”

Multidisciplinary team

A powerful scientific consortium has formed around the Samara carbon landfill, in which each participant contributes to the common cause. The main research site is 4,629 hectares of fields of the Orlovka AIC experimental farm in the village of Stary Amanak in the Pokhvistnevsky district, where No till technologies have been introduced. Specialists of the National Movement for Conservation Agriculture work here, and soil scientists from Russia's leading scientific centers and academic institutes also participate in research.

The second site of the landfill is the experimental fields of the Samara State Agrarian University (SamGAU) with an area of 156.8 hectares in the Kinelsky district, where a wide variety of types of soils and agrophones are presented. Here, the processes of carbon release and absorption are studied by a group led by Natalia Trots, Dean of the Faculty of Agronomy. Research on the soil microbiome is underway at Samara State Medical University (SamSMU), which is headed by a professor at the Department of General and Clinical Microbiology, Immunology and Allergology Artyom Lyamin.

Contribution of Samara University is a system for remote measurement and monitoring of greenhouse gas emissions and sequestration of organic soil carbon. It is based on unique equipment developed at the University – a portable gas chromatograph, a compact hyperspectrometer and drones. Vladimir Platonov, Head of the Department of Ecology and Life Safety, is responsible for chromatography, and Vladimir Podlipnov, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Technical Cybernetics, is responsible for hyperspectrometry. The equipment is lifted into the air by employees of the University Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems under the leadership of David Ovakimyan.

In general, a modern remote measurement and monitoring system is one of the key elements of a carbon landfill, regardless of the ecosystem that is being explored at this landfill. Its advantage is efficiency, the ability to regularly and in detail explore large areas, and it costs less than manual sampling. This is exactly what is necessary for the implementation of agricultural producers in the organization of the carbon market.

The first agricultural in Russia

A carbon landfill is not an easy and costly task. For its full-fledged work, the support of the state is needed. Therefore, in parallel with scientific experiments, an application was being prepared for the entry of the landfill, which was already de facto working, into the project "Carbon Polygons of the Russian Federation". Samara University took over this mission.

"We understood that an agricultural carbon landfill is necessary for both the region and Russia. This is a strategic project, on the success of which, without exaggeration, the future of the country depends. It was necessary to prove to the Expert Council that we are able to provide high-quality results, that we have a solid scientific and practical foundation, have data for retrospective analysis, and have unique equipment and technologies. And we succeeded," says Vladimir Bogatyrev, Rector of Samara University.

In November 2023, the project of the country's first Samara agricultural carbon landfill "Agro Engineering" was approved by the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia. Samara National Research University became the operator of the project. The head of the project is Professor Vladimir Bogatyrev, the responsible executor is Associate Professor Vladimir Platonov. The total amount of funding for 2024-2025 is 146.5 million rubles, of which 113.5 million rubles are allocated by the federal budget. The consortium of participants has expanded. In particular, a new industrial partner has appeared – the Shchelkovo Agrochem company, PhosAgro and Transneft Druzhba companies have shown interest in the project, and financing from industrial partners has increased.

Goals, objectives, results

The team of the Agro Engineering carbon landfill has two global goals. The first is to study the carbon balance, find the most effective methods of sequestering carbon in the soil and reducing the carbon footprint of products. The second goal is to learn how to effectively manage the carbon cycle and photosynthesis using biological methods, based on the SRA technology.

To this end, the creation of the landfill infrastructure is being completed. Methods of remote monitoring of greenhouse gas emissions and runoff are being developed. The effect of various types of fertilizers on emissions of these gases is being studied, and optimal rates of their application are being determined.

The data obtained will form the basis of a mathematical model that allows us to adequately assess the dynamics of greenhouse gas emissions in the conditions of the Volga Federal District, and then this model will be adapted for other types of agricultural soils in Russia. This groundwork will allow the development of a prototype of the national MRV protocol for measuring, monitoring and verifying changes in soil carbon stocks with the possibility of calculating carbon credits for their sale on the carbon market.

In parallel, the study of the soil microbiome and its carbon asset is underway, standards for microbiological studies of soils are being developed.

"We do in-depth microbiological analyses, such as culture and metagenomic soil analyses. We need to learn how to work with the microbiome – so far this is a white spot both in the world and in Russia. But this is the future," he says Lyudmila Orlova.

Combining the topics of soil conservation and resource-saving agriculture with the study of carbon balance in one landfill gives a synergistic effect. On the one hand, we see real progress towards the creation of the Russian market of carbon units and the assessment of the carbon footprint in products. On the other hand, technologies are being developed to increase soil fertility, prevent their degradation, wind erosion, desertification, and increase the yield and quality of agricultural products.

Valuable practical results have already been obtained from the implementation of developments by the project participants themselves. Verification of data on the emission and sequestration of soil organic carbon, which were collected at the site of the Orlovka AIC experimental farm for the period from January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2023, allowed the implemented climate project to be registered and entered into the official register. And now there are almost 41 thousand carbon units in the "piggy bank" of the farm. Moreover, today the carbon unit is estimated at an average of 700 to 1000 rubles.

The Minister is in favor

On the first day of the 2024 academic year at Samara University, the project of the Agro Engineering agricultural carbon landfill was presented to Valery Falkov, Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation. Together with the Governor of the Samara Region Vyacheslav Fedorishchev, he visited key universities of the region that participate in the strategic academic leadership program "Priority 2030" and the federal project "Advanced Engineering Schools".

Vladimir Platonov demonstrated to the head of the Ministry of Higher Education and Science of Russia portable equipment for experiments at the agricultural carbon landfill and its key element - a gas chromatographic column that fits in the palm of your hand.

“Right now, in the auditorium where we are, greenhouse gas emissions are measured by the portable gas chromatograph to be designed and manufactured at Samara University. We have developed microfluidic systems that have reduced the weight of device from usual 40 kg to 1 kg. Gas chromatographs will soon appear in the form factor of a mobile phone”, informed Vladimir Platonov the Minister.

Valery Falkov was also shown unmanned aerial vehicles furnished with unique portable hyperspectral equipment. Both drones and hyperspectrometers are developed at Samara University.

Lyudmila Orlova spoke about development of certified methods for calculating the carbon footprint, which could make it possible to form the Russian carbon unit market and enter already operating global carbon markets. As a member of the expert council under the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation on scientific support for the development of carbon balance control technologies, she proposed making the Samara agricultural carbon landfill "Agro Engineering" part of a common project between Russia and the BRICS countries. The Minister supported this idea.

“We will consider it. I would like to thank you separately for the multidisciplinary approach that has united several universities, because this task has long gone beyond only ecology or only agriculture. It affects economics, engineering, biology, soil science, and international relations”, concluded Valery Falkov.

However, there is still a lot of work ahead. The official research program of the landfill, which includes five large-scale experiments, is scheduled until the end of 2026.

Vladimir Bogatyrev, Rector of Samara National Research University :

"The project on creating the agricultural carbon landfill is of strategic importance for achieving carbon balance, saving the potential of soil fertility, reducing food risks, strengthening Russia’s position in the international market of low-carbon products, and preserving the nation’s health.”

Source: firstsamara.ru