What might it cost to increase soil organic carbon using no-till on U.S. cropland?

• Published in: Carbon balance and management 2020-12, Vol.15 (1), p.26-13, Article 26
• Main Author: Sperow, Mark
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agricultural economics; Agricultural land; Agricultural management; Agriculture; Agronomy; Carbon capture costs; Carbon dioxide; Carbon dioxide atmospheric concentrations; Carbon dioxide emissions; Climate and land use; Climate change; CO2 offset costs; Conservation tillage; Costs; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecosystems; Emissions; Environment; Environmental Management; Forestry; Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; IPCC; Land use; Land use management; Organic carbon; Organic soils; Soil management; Soils; Tillage
• ISSN: 1750-0680; 1750-0680
• DOI: 10.1186/s13021-020-00162-3

Background Existing research provides estimates of the biophysical potential for increasing soil organic carbon (SOC) stock, however additional research is needed to enhance our understanding of the economic potential for agricultural soils to offset or help reduce CO 2 emissions. This study derives the marginal cost to increase SOC sequestration by combining SOC sequestration potential estimates developed using the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) factors with an existing payment scheme that was designed to increase no-till (NT) adoption on U.S. cropland. The marginal costs of increasing SOC is a function of the amount of SOC that could be increased through NT and the expected cost to landowners of changing management to use NT. Results The variability in SOC sequestration rates due to different land-use, management histories, climate, and soils, combined with the 48 unique payment rates to adopt NT, yield over 5,000 unique marginal cost values for increasing SOC sequestration. Nearly 95 percent of the biophysical potential SOC sequestration increase on U.S. cropland (2802 Tg CO 2 from 140.1 Tg CO 2 year −1 for 20 years) could be captured for less than $100 Mg −1 CO 2. An estimated 64 to 93 percent of the biophysical potential could be captured for less than the low and high estimated costs to capture CO 2 for geologic storage of $36.36 to $86.06 Mg −1 CO 2 , respectively. Conclusions Decreasing tillage intensity through adoption of no-till agriculture offers a cost-effective way to offset a portion of increasing global CO 2 emissions. This research demonstrates that increasing SOC stocks through NT adoption can offset CO 2 emissions at a lower cost than some other options for preventing CO 2 from entering the atmosphere.