…recycling trees onsite can sequester carbon, save water and increase crop yields, making it a climate-smart practice.

…whole orchard recycling can help almond orchards be more sustainable and resilient to drought while also increasing carbon storage in the soil.

What is it about?

UC Davis scientists measured soil health and tree productivity of an almond orchard that turned previous Prunus woody biomass back into the soil through whole orchard recycling and compared it with an orchard that burned its old trees nine years prior.

Their results revealed that, compared with burn treatments, whole orchard recycling can: (i) Sequester 5 tons of carbon per hectare, (ii) Increase water-use efficiency by 20 percent, (iii) Increase crop yields by 19 percent.
“This seems to be a practice that can mitigate climate change by building the soil’s potential to be a carbon sink, while also building nutrients and water retention. That can be especially important as water becomes more limited.”

SOURCE: Jahanzad E, Holtz BA, Zuber CA, Doll D, Brewer KM, Hogan S, et al. (2020)
Orchard recycling improves climate change adaptation and mitigation potential of almond production systems. PLoS ONE 15(3): e0229588.