Have you ever been to the Ecological Farming Associations annual conference called EcoFarm?

It takes place at Asilomar in Pacific Grove, just south of Monterey, which is a BEAUTIFUL place to visit!

Eugene and I were there to present our book - Cool Cuisine - Taking the Bite Out of Global Warming.

Because it was "ecofarm," my presentation focused on the area in our book that describes ways and benefits of carbon sequestration in the soil. Being a chef and not a soil scientist -- I approach the subject from a culinary perspective. "We should think of the soil as a fine bordelaise sauce and know that as we put great ingredients into the soil, it will deliciously season all the things we take out."

Here's a good chart from our presentation that shows agricultural GHG emissions and how they can be offset.

Did you know that for every 10 carbons that are sequestered in the soil - one nitrogen is also sequestered? This chart from UC Davis (also in the book) shows the good results they have documented in this area:

What all the sequestration leads to is a deeper root system, as seen in this picture with Wes Jackson from The Land Institute (yes those are grass roots he is wearing around his shoulders!)

Eco-groovy soil amendments

Compost tea aerators

At home soil testers

At the final dinner, one of my hero farmers, Mr. Percy Schmeiser (and his wife) were given an award for his tireless work against Monsanto. For those of you who don't know Percy, Monsanto sued HIM after some of their Roundup Ready seeds blew into his fields and contaminated his crop. After outrageous losses, the case went all the way to the Canadian Supreme Court where he finally won against the giant!

All in all - EcoFarm was great event! Try to be one of the over 1,600 in attendance next year (always the mid-end of January). It sells out early - so mark your calendar now!

Let's keep changing the world with great tasting food!

_______________________________________________________

Laura Stec is a chef, educator and author of Cool Cuisine - Taking the Bite Out of Global Warming (Gibbs Smith 2008). www.globalwarmingdiet.org

Cool Cuisine is one of the featured books for the 2010 Silicon Valley Reads program. Free events all thru Feb/March. www. siliconvalleyreads.org

Laura Stec - Green Cuisine voted Top Trendy Business at the 2010 Winter Fancy Food Show! www.laurastec.com