Agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions contribute approximately 12% to total global anthropogenic GHG emissions. Cereals (rice, wheat, and maize) are the largest source of human calories, and it is estimated that world cereal production must increase by 1.3% annually to 2025 to meet growing demand. Sustainable intensification of cereal production systems will require maintaining high yields while reducing environmental costs. We conducted a meta‐analysis (57 published studies consisting of 62 study sites and 328 observations) to test the hypothesis that the global warming potential (GWP) of CH4 and N2O emissions from rice, wheat, and maize, when expressed per ton of grain (yield‐scaled GWP), is similar, and that the lowest value for each cereal is achieved at near optimal yields. Results show that the GWP of CH4 and N2O emissions from rice (3757 kg CO2 eq ha−1 season−1) was higher than wheat (662 kg CO2 eq ha−1 season−1) and maize (1399 kg CO2 eq ha−1 season−1). The yield‐scaled GWP of rice was about four times higher (657 kg CO2 eq Mg−1) than wheat (166 kg CO2 eq Mg−1) and maize (185 kg CO2 eq Mg−1). Across cereals, the lowest yield‐scaled GWP values were achieved at 92% of maximal yield and were about twice as high for rice (279 kg CO2 eq Mg−1) than wheat (102 kg CO2 eq Mg−1) or maize (140 kg CO2 eq Mg−1), suggesting greater mitigation opportunities for rice systems. In rice, wheat and maize, 0.68%, 1.21%, and 1.06% of N applied was emitted as N2O, respectively. In rice systems, there was no correlation between CH4 emissions and N rate. In addition, when evaluating issues related to food security and environmental sustainability, other factors including cultural significance, the provisioning of ecosystem services, and human health and well‐being must also be considered.

No-tillage and reduced tillage (NT/RT) management practices are being promoted in agroecosystems to reduce erosion, sequester additional soil C and reduce production costs. The impact of NT/RT on N2 O emissions, however, has been variable with both increases and decreases in emissions reported. Herein, we quantitatively synthesize studies on the short- and long-term impact of NT/RT on N2 O emissions in humid and dry climatic zones with emissions expressed on both an area- and crop yield-scaled basis. A meta-analysis was conducted on 239 direct comparisons between conventional tillage (CT) and NT/RT. In contrast to earlier studies, averaged across all comparisons, NT/RT did not alter N2 O emissions compared with CT. However, NT/RT significantly reduced N2 O emissions in experiments >10 years, especially in dry climates. No significant correlation was found between soil texture and the effect of NT/RT on N2 O emissions. When fertilizer-N was placed at ≥5 cm depth, NT/RT significantly reduced area-scaled N2 O emissions, in particular under humid climatic conditions. Compared to CT under dry climatic conditions, yield-scaled N2 O increased significantly (57%) when NT/RT was implemented <10 years, but decreased significantly (27%) after ≥10 years of NT/RT. There was a significant decrease in yield-scaled N2 O emissions in humid climates when fertilizer-N was placed at ≥5 cm depth. Therefore, in humid climates, deep placement of fertilizer-N is recommended when implementing NT/RT. In addition, NT/RT practices need to be sustained for a prolonged time, particularly in dry climates, to become an effective mitigation strategy for reducing N2 O emissions.

Agriculture is faced with the challenge of providing healthy food for a growing population at minimal environmental cost. Rice (Oryza sativa), the staple crop for the largest number of people on earth, is grown under flooded soil conditions and uses more water and has higher greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions than most crops. The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that alternate wetting and drying (AWD--flooding the soil and then allowing to dry down before being reflooded) water management practices will maintain grain yields and concurrently reduce water use, greenhouse gas emissions and arsenic (As) levels in rice. Various treatments ranging in frequency and duration of AWD practices were evaluated at three locations over 2 years. Relative to the flooded control treatment and depending on the AWD treatment, yields were reduced by <1-13%; water-use efficiency was improved by 18-63%, global warming potential (GWP of CH4 and N2 O emissions) reduced by 45-90%, and grain As concentrations reduced by up to 64%. In general, as the severity of AWD increased by allowing the soil to dry out more between flood events, yields declined while the other benefits increased. The reduction in GWP was mostly attributed to a reduction in CH4 emissions as changes in N2 O emissions were minimal among treatments. When AWD was practiced early in the growing season followed by flooding for remainder of season, similar yields as the flooded control were obtained but reduced water use (18%), GWP (45%) and yield-scaled GWP (45%); although grain As concentrations were similar or higher. This highlights that multiple environmental benefits can be realized without sacrificing yield but there may be trade-offs to consider. Importantly, adoption of these practices will require that they are economically attractive and can be adapted to field scales.

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Crop intensification is often thought to increase greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but studies in which crop management is optimized to exploit crop yield potential are rare. We conducted a field study in eastern Nebraska, USA to quantify GHG emissions, changes in soil organic carbon (SOC) and the net global warming potential (GWP) in four irrigated systems: continuous maize with recommended best management practices (CCrec) or intensive management (CC-int) and maize-soybean rotation with recommended (CS-rec) or intensive management (CS-int). Grain yields of maize and soybean were generally within 80-100% of the estimated site yield potential. Large soil surface carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) fluxes were mostly associated with rapid crop growth, high temperature and high soil water content. Within each crop rotation, soil CO 2 efflux under intensive management was not consistently higher than with recommended management. Owing to differences in residue inputs, SOC increased in the two continuous maize systems, but decreased in CS-rec or remained unchanged in CS-int. N 2 O emission peaks were mainly associated with high temperature and high soil water content resulting from rainfall or irrigation events, but less clearly related to soil NO 3 -N levels. N 2 O fluxes in intensively managed systems were only occasionally greater than those measured in the CC-rec and CS-rec systems. Fertilizer-induced N 2 O emissions ranged from 1.9% to 3.5% in 2003, from 0.8% to 1.5% in 2004 and from 0.4% to 0.5% in 2005, with no consistent differences among the four systems. All four cropping systems where net sources of GHG. However, due to increased soil C sequestration continuous maize systems had lower GWP than maizesoybean systems and intensive management did not cause a significant increase in GWP. Converting maize grain to ethanol in the two continuous maize systems resulted in a net reduction in life cycle GHG emissions of maize ethanol relative to petrol-based gasoline by 33-38%. Our study provided evidence that net GHG emissions from agricultural systems can be kept low when management is optimized toward better exploitation of the yield potential. Major components for this included (i) choosing the right combination of adopted varieties, planting date and plant population to maximize crop biomass productivity, (ii) tactical water and nitrogen (N) management decisions that contributed to high N use efficiency and avoided extreme N 2 O emissions, and (iii) a deep tillage and residue management approach that favored the build-up of soil organic matter from large amounts of crop residues returned.