The two food chains plants supply

The carbon compounds contained in plants provide energy and are the building blocks for all the processes in animals, birds and the soil fauna/biota. Remember the earlier comment that humans are 18% carbon.

In following the path of carbon, after it enters the landscape through photosynthesis, we discover that plants supply two food chains, one above and the other below the ground.

The food chain below the ground is out of sight and out of mind for many producers. This is unfortunate, as it is what happens under the ground that determines the health and fertility of the soil that plants grow in.

It will be shown that maximising carbon flows through the two food chains, maximises rural profits and also meets the expectations of the other stakeholders in society through favourable environmental outcomes.

In following the path of carbon, we are really following consumption along the two food chains. It is through consumption that carbon keeps changing its form. As carbon cycles through different forms it provides energy and building blocks for all the processes in animals and birds above ground and the soil fauna and microbes that live below the ground.

To download a PDF version of Chapter 5 - The two food chains plants supply of "Carbon Grazing - the missing link" (file size 468Kb), click on the highlighted chapter heading.

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