Potential Long-Term, Global Effects of Enhancing the Domestic Terrestrial Carbon Sink in the United States Through No-Till and Cover Cropping: Article No. 18

Maridee Weber, Marshall Wise, Patrick Lamers, Yong Wang, Greg Avery, Kendalynn Morris, Jae Edmonds

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Achieving a net zero greenhouse gas United States (US) economy is likely to require both deep sectoral mitigation and additional carbon dioxide removals to offset hard-to-abate emissions. Enhancing the terrestrial carbon sink, through practices such as the adoption of no-till and cover cropping agricultural management, could provide a portion of these required offsets. Changing domestic agricultural practices to optimize carbon content, however, might reduce or shift US agricultural commodity outputs and exports, with potential implications on respective global markets and land use patterns. Here, we use an integrated energy-economy-land-climate model to comprehensively assess the global land, trade, and emissions impacts of an adoption of domestic no-till farming and cover cropping practices based on carbon pricing. We find that the adoption of these practices varies depending on which aspects of terrestrial carbon are valued. Valuation of all terrestrial carbon resulted in afforestation at the expense of domestic agricultural production. In contrast, a policy valuing soil carbon in agricultural systems specifically indicates strong adoption of no-till and cover cropping for key crops. We conclude that under targeted terrestrial carbon incentives, adoption of no-till and cover cropping practices in the US could increase the terrestrial carbon sink with limited effects on crop availability for food and fodder markets. Future work should consider integrated assessment modeling of non-CO2 greenhouse gas impacts, above ground carbon storage changes, and capital and operating cost considerations.
Original languageAmerican English
Number of pages18
JournalCarbon Balance and Management
Volume19
DOIs
StatePublished - 2024

NREL Publication Number

  • NREL/JA-6A20-87029

Keywords

  • carbon dioxide removal
  • conservation agriculture
  • cover crops
  • DayCent
  • GCAM
  • no-till
  • soil carbon

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