Introduction

In the last decade, the population has increased significantly, which has made us accelerated the production of goods, one of them being food. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the population has grown at a rate of 0.08% annually since 2000, increasing by about 58 million people each year. In the last two years, the U.S. population has grown at the fastest pace in more than two decades, growing at a rate of 0.98% between 2023 and 2024 (U.S. Census Bureau, US Population Grows at Fastest Pace in More Than Two Decades, 2024). This rapid growth has intensified the demand for food production, which has caused the overuse and degradation of agricultural soils.

Due to the influx of people, the food supply must meet the demand. Farms must produce more crop yield at accelerated rates, which can drain their soil of necessary nutrients for specific crops. Certain measures can be taken to restore depleted nutrients in the soil, such as crop rotation and the implementation of livestock manure to restore drained nutrient deposits. The former utilizes other crops that need and bleed different nutrients from and into the soil, respectively. However, this can cost the farmer time while the substitution crop comes in to restore nutrients to the soil. Crop rotation also rules out any control the farmer has in just how much nutrient gets passed on to the soil, which can result in smaller yields of the target crop. The latter, the livestock manure option, has been observed to emit concerning amounts of greenhouse gases such as CO₂ and N₂O. Both methods of improving soil health are focused on restoring depleted nutrient deposits. However, crop rotation lacks sensitivity when it comes to controlling the amount of nutrients available for the target crop from the restorative rotational crop. Crop rotation also limits the amount of land that farmers can grow target crops on, whereas, in the case of livestock manure, surpluses of greenhouse gases are released.

The harm done to the environment poses a severe threat to New York agriculture, as climate change has impacted over 6.9 million acres and 160,000 jobs (Benefits of Cover Crops, 2007). The area has experienced an increase in storms, heat waves, and soil degradation. This drives product yield down, leaving both large and small-scale farmers with the difficult decision to raise product costs to continue operating their farms and providing what they can for the community. This could mean customers abstaining from purchasing the product until the supply builds itself back up and prices begin to normalize. Large-scale farming groups can survive extended periods of damage such as these, but small-scale farmers may not be so lucky, so what can be done that reduces the damage done to the climate while simultaneously leveling the playing field?

The book Managing Cover Crops Profitably explains the benefits of incorporating cover crops. This book talks about cover crops in sustainable agriculture. Some of them are soil improvement, erosion prevention, and better nutrient management. It mentions that cover crops can break pest cycles and hold water, which sustains production over the long term. So, the book explains that, although it’s wonderful to rotate and diversify crops, you must be very careful and plan because certain crops deplete or give off too much of certain nutrients (Managing Cover Crops Profitably, Year?). It sort of supports the fact that, although crop rotation is beneficial, it can also be bad and must be carefully controlled so as not to disrupt the balance of nutrients.

Other Innovations

Keeping up with the steady incline of the population is no new feat for farmers and scientists alike. Post-civil war solutions to this issue go as far back as the Guano Islands Act of 1856. From 1856-65, America’s first overseas territorial acquisitions resulted in the claiming of 94 islands (The Great Guano Rush; Entrepreneurs and American overseas expansion, 1994) for guano retrieval. Guano was discovered to be high in nitrogen, potassium, and essential nutrients for plant growth, which became valuable in the eyes of the U.S. because of its rapidly reducing nutrient density within the soil across the U.S. as a result of an expanding population. However, there existed a finite amount of organic guano which can be observed from 1884-1902 (The Great Guano Rush; Entrepreneurs and American overseas expansion, 1994) when America’s guano sources wore thin. After sources were depleted, the price naturally rose, and it became less available for many farmers, especially those existing in the lower tiers. Seven years later, in 1909 (The Alchemy of Air: A Jewish Genius, A Doomed Tycoon, and the Scientific Discovery That Fed the World but Fueled the Rise of Hitler, 2008), an innovation was discovered by a German scientist by the name of Fritz Haber who had been proclaimed to have made “bread from air” (Brot aus Luft, 1934). The Haber-Bosch process, in short, created ammonia (NH₃) from nitrogen and hydrogen in the air, which made the possibility of synthetic fertilizers possible. Reducing our need for guano and increasing the amount of food we were able to produce.

Although the reactants necessary to form the product, NH₃, were readily available in the air, at the time, this process was typically expensive to replicate due to the high temperatures and pressures necessary to form NH₃ from nitrogen and hydrogen. Although the use of the Haber-Bosch process did lead to mass production of synthetic fertilizer which led to an astounding expansion of the population from about “two to seven billion people over the last century” (Current and future role of Haber-Bosch ammonia in a carbon-free energy landscape, 2020); the process is not without fault, not to mention the use of ammonia for the production of chemical warfare during World War II, in the context of agricultural benefit, the Haber-Bosch process has been magnified and utilized to such an astounding extent that is it one of the largest consumers of energy as well as being one of the largest greenhouse gas emitters exuding a 1.2% of the worlds anthropogenic CO₂ emissions (Current and future role of Haber-Bosch ammonia in a carbon-free energy landscape, 2020). The process was also developed at a time when the use of fossil fuels did not concern the majority of people around the globe. Due to this ideology, the process utilizes methane to produce ammonia, which explains the intense amount of carbon emissions. Due to these precursors, the need for a more sustainable method to feed the planet is of the utmost importance. We need thousands of guano islands, we need another Haber-Bosch process, but we need these agricultural aids to be sustainable, we need biochar, cover crops, and monitoring devices.

Technical Description

Biochar is a biomass, this biomass can consist of various combinations of organic biological material, making for a complex carbon cocktail for the soil it is applied to. The target product for agricultural applications is biochar. There are many ways that biochar can be produced, but not all of them happen to be environmentally friendly. Older civilizations have been producing biochar for centuries, reaching as far back as 30,000 B.C. in the production of charcoal for cave drawings (Livestock and Poultry Environmental Learning Center Webcast Series, 2015). The biochar process is seen again in the production of Egyptian embalming

material, and was also used for fuel/energy and water filtration during 3000-4000 B.C.. To this day, biochar is still used for these applications, as seen in Figure 1.

In the ancient timeframes listed above, biochar was produced by piling a considerable amount of wood up and biomass, it is then covered and burned in order to decrease the burning speed and allow char to form. This method is still being used today in developing countries and produces heavy amounts of smoke and CO₂ (Biochar Then and Now, 2025).

The eco-friendly process by which biomass transforms into biochar is called pyrolysis, which can be observed in Figure 2 below.

Pyrolysis burns the biomass with limited oxygen in a closed system, reducing the amount of energy needed to reach high temperatures necessary to complete the process, capturing harmful emissions, and producing syngas and bio-fuels (Biochar Then and Now, 2025) capable of replacing fossil fuels, thereby reducing emissions even further.

The book Managing Cover Crops Profitably explains the benefits of incorporating cover crops. This book talks about cover crops in sustainable agriculture. Some of them are soil improvement, erosion prevention, and better nutrient management. It mentions that cover crops can break pest cycles and hold water, which sustains production over the long term. So, the book explains that, although it’s wonderful to rotate and diversify crops, you must be very careful and plan because certain crops deplete or give off too much of certain nutrients(Managing Cover Crops Profitably). It sort of supports the fact that, although crop rotation is beneficial, it can also be bad and must be carefully controlled so as not to disrupt the balance of nutrients.

Cover crops are plants grown primarily to improve soil health and ecosystem balance rather than for harvest. They work by protecting the soil from erosion, enhancing its structure, and increasing organic matter. Some, like legumes, fix nitrogen from the air into the soil, reducing the need for synthetic fertilizers, while others suppress weeds, break up compacted soil, or attract beneficial insects. By covering the ground between main crop cycles, they help retain moisture, recycle nutrients, and even sequester carbon, making them a powerful tool for sustainable agriculture.

Farm monitoring, shown in Figure 3, offers a modern and effective way to address soil health. By using sensors and real-time data, farmers can track soil moisture, nutrient levels, and environmental conditions. This allows them to make smarter decisions about when and how to irrigate, fertilize, or rotate crops. According to KORE Wireless, farm monitoring leads to improved crop yields, smarter use of resources, and substantial cost savings by helping farmers respond quickly to problems and plan more effectively(KORE, n.d).

Estimated Costs for Soil Health Improvements in NY Farms:

Depending on the type of crop a farmer is planting, the cost of the cover crop method can range from $50–$100 per acre. Soil monitoring devices, however, have a pretty broad price range depending on whether the farmer invests in basic sensors ranging from $100–$300 per unit to more advanced modules ranging from $500–$1,000+ per unit. Biochar can also range in price depending on whether professional, commercial-grade flame curtain kilns are used or DIY pyrolysis chambers are assembled. DIY can range anywhere from $50–$300, but may not be assembled correctly, resulting in unsafe operation and possible escape of emissions from the pyrolysis chamber. Commercial pyrolysis chambers range from $1,000–$10,00,0, and in each case, the biomass to fuel the process is oftentimes free as biological matter is pretty easy to come by on a farm. The table below displays a unique case.

Total Estimated Budget (Basic Setup for a Mid-Sized Farm)

Item	Estimated Cost
Cover Crops (20 acres)	$1,000–$2,000
Soil Monitoring Devices (2 devices per acre)	$4,000–$12,000
Biochar	$1,000–$10,000
Total	$6,000–$24,000

This table showcases a scenario where 20 acres of cover crops are planted, basic soil monitoring devices are placed both at the start and the middle of an acre, and a commercial pyrolysis chamber is used to ensure safety and low emissions.

When it comes to labor, setting up a commercial pyrolysis chamber would cost the farmer the rate of two maintenance employees to come and install the chamber. Cover crops can be planted by the farmers themselves or by the crew that a farmer may or may not have. Lastly, soil monitoring devices would require a farmer to hire a crew of maintenance employees to come and install the monitoring modules. As far as long-term operation goes, the farmer should be able to operate the pyrolysis chamber and the soil monitoring modules as well as plant their cover crops individually, except for replacing broken/weathered equipment.

Conclusion:

Small-scale farmers in New York could benefit from employing a combination of biochar, soil monitoring devices, and cover crops as opposed to current natural or synthetic manures that release concerning amounts of greenhouse gasses and crop rotation that takes time and real estate away from the farmer without adding any sort of control on how much nutrients their soil gets from the rotation. The soil monitoring devices will allow farmers to understand where their soil is deficient, the biochar will help to restore these deficiencies, and cover crops will increase the longevity of the soil by preventing erosion. These methods to improve soil health are affordable, as a 20-acre field would theoretically cost at most $24,000, making them accessible to small-scale farmers. As a plus, these methods have been proven to be more eco-friendly than the current practices used in farming today as well.

References:

Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE). (2007). Benefits of cover crops. In Managing cover crops profitably (3rd ed.). https://www.sare.org/publications/managing-cover-crops-profitably/benefits-of-cover-crops/

Earthjustice. (2020, January). Climate change & agriculture in New York: Risks and opportunities [Fact sheet]. https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/climate-change-agriculture-factsheet-ny-jan-2020.pdf

Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education. (2007). Benefits of cover crops. In Managing
cover crops profitably (3rd ed.). SARE. https://www.sare.org/publications/managing-cover-crops-profitably/benefits-of-cover-crops/

Guano Islands Act: Skaggs, J.M. (1994). The Great Guano Rush: Entrepreneurs and American
overseas expansion. New York: St Martin’s Press. 1994. Pp 334.

Access to E-Book: The Great Guano Rush. Entrepreneurs and American Overseas Expansion. By Jimmy M. Skaggs. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1994. Pp. Xiv, 334. $16.95. | The Journal of Economic History | Cambridge Core

Smith C., Hill A.K., & Torrente-Murciano L. (2020). The current and future role of Haber-Bosch

ammonia in a carbon-free energy landscape. Royal Society of Chemistry 13, 331-344.

Current and future role of Haber–Bosch ammonia in a carbon-free energy landscape – Energy & Environmental Science (RSC Publishing) DOI:10.1039/C9EE02873K

Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE). (2007). Benefits of cover crops. In
Managing cover crops profitably (3rd ed.). https://www.sare.org/publications/managing-cover-crops-profitably/benefits-of-cover-crops/

Earthjustice. (2020, January). Climate change & agriculture in New York: Risks and opportunities [Fact sheet].https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/climate-change-agriculture-factsheet-ny-jan-2020.pdf

Benefits of Cover Crops. (n.d.). Retrieved from SARE website: https://www.sare.org/publications/managing-cover-crops-profitably/benefits-of-cover-crops/

Cavallito, M. (2022, May 5). Erosion in U.S. worse-than-expected, new study says. Retrieved from Re Soil Foundation website: https://resoilfoundation.org/en/agricultural-industry/us-erosion-worse-than-expected/

Hager, T. (2024). The Alchemy of Air by Thomas Hager: 9780307351791 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books. Retrieved May 8, 2025, from PenguinRandomhouse.com website: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/73464/the-alchemy-of-air-by-thomas-hager-author-of-the-demon-under-the-microscope/

KORE. (2025). What is Farm Monitoring? | KORE. Retrieved May 8, 2025, from KORE Wireless website: https://www.korewireless.com/blog/what-is-farm-monitoring/

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Improving Soil Maintenance for Small-Scale Farmers