Can current agricultural practices guarantee appropriate levels of soil organic carbon ?

What is it about?

Soil organic carbon (SOC), present in the soil as organic matter, plays a key role in agriculture. It mediates the cycling of nutrients in plants and thus affects fertility and crop yields. Moreover, SOC is the most important terrestrial carbon storage, weighing twice that of atmospheric carbon. Unfortunately, scientists are not sure whether current agricultural practices, including those based around conservation, can maintain acceptable levels of SOC in the face of climate change. In this study, the authors sought to validate two widely used models that can simulate agricultural ecosystems: the Daycent model and the CQESTR model. They combined the strengths of these models in a novel way and applied them to two representative sites in the US for which soil data had been collected over many years. In turn, this allowed them to analyze the effects of different climates and practices on changing patterns of SOC and predict future SOC levels depending on field management and climate change projections.

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Photo by Roman Synkevych on Unsplash

Photo by Roman Synkevych on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Understanding how both climate and our actions can affect SOC levels of agricultural lands is necessary to make the correct decisions. Low SOC can not only reduce crop yields, but also increase the amount of greenhouse gases released to the atmosphere. In other words, climate change will worsen if we cannot sustainably increase SOC levels. The results of this study highlight the limitations of current conservation agricultural practices. In line with these findings, the authors provided several strategies to make agricultural lands more resilient to extreme events and climate change. This may help us secure our food sources, prevent soil degradation, and stop global warming. KEY TAKEAWAY: To ensure good crop yields and combat climate change, it will be crucial to adopt agricultural practices that can guarantee appropriate levels of SOC.