PNNL

Abstract

Soils account for the largest fraction of terrestrial carbon (C); thus, they are critically important in determining global C cycle dynamics. In North America, conversion of native prairies to agricultural land use over 150 years ago released 30-50% of the soil organic carbon (SOC). Improved agricultural practices have the capacity to recover much of this SOC, storing it in biomass and soil and thereby removing billions of tons of atmospheric CO2. These practices involve increasing C inputs to soil (e.g., by crop rotations, increased use of higher biomass crops, perennial crops) and decreased losses (e.g., reduced tillage intensity) [Janzen et al., 1998; Lal et al., 2003; Smith et al., 2007]. Managing agricultural soils to increase SOC storage is a significant, immediately available, low-cost option for mitigating CO2 emissions, with a technical potential to offset as much as 800 Tg CO2/yr in the US (~13% of US CO2 emissions) [Lal et al., 2003] and 5000 Tg CO2/yr globally (~17% of global CO2 emissions) [Smith et al., 2007].