Potential for Carbon Mitigation in European Soils Through No Till Farming

In this paper we estimate the European potential for carbon mitigation of no-till farming using results from European tillage experiments. Our calculations suggest some potential in terms of (a) reduced agricultural fossil fuel emissions, and (b) increased soil carbon sequestration. We estimate that 100% conversion to no-till farming would be likely to sequester about 23 Tg C y-1 in the European Union or about 43 Tg C y-1 in the wider Europe (excluding the former Soviet Union). In addition, up to 3.2 Tg C y-1 could be saved in agricultural fossil fuel emissions. Compared to estimates of the potential for carbon sequestration of other carbon mitigation options, no-till agriculture shows nearly twice the potential of scenarios whereby soils are amended with organic materials. Our calculations suggest that 100% conversion to no-till agriculture in Europe could mitigate all fossil fuel-carbon emissions from agriculture in Europe. However, this is equivalent to only about 4.1% of total anthropogenic CO2-carbon produced annually in Europe (excluding the former Soviet Union) which in turn is equivalent to about 0.8% of global annual anthropogenic CO2-carbon emissions.

For related work, see

Smith et al. 1997. Potential for carbon sequestration in European soils: preliminary estimates for five scenarios using results from long-term experiments. Global Change Biology 3:67-79. Abstract and data at http://cdiac.ornl.gov/programs/CSEQ/terrestrial/PeteSmithetal97/petesmithetal97.htm.

Smith et al. 2000. Meeting Europe's climate chanage committments: quantitative estimates of the potential for carbon mitigation by agriculture. Global Change Biology 6:525-539. Abstract at http://cdiac.ornl.gov/programs/CSEQ/terrestrial/PeteSmithetal2000/petesmith00.htm.

Smith et al. 2001. Enhancing the carbon sink in European agricultural soils: Including trace gas fluxes in estimates of carbon mitigation potential. Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems 60:237-252.

Smith et al. 1997. Opportunities and limitations for C sequestration in European agricultural soils through changes in management. In: Management of Carbon Sequestration in Soil (R. Lal ed.), pp. 143-152. Advances in Soil Science. CRC press, Boca Raton, Florida.

Smith et al. (eds). 1997. Evaluation and comparison of soil organic matter models using datasets from seven long-term expermints. Special Isssue of Geoderma, 81:1-225.