A proposal to rethink agriculture in the climate calculations

Abstract

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), agriculture is a main source of negative greenhouse gases. The calculations are based on empirical facts but also, like all research, on certain perspectives or paradigms including assumptions and subjective choices of system boundaries for analysis. Greenhouse gases in relation to agriculture are often presented in diagrams showing, for example, arrows of emissions from soil, cattle, tractors, and manure storage. However, the fundament of agriculture is the photosynthesis. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is caught by crops that, in turn, produce oxygen (O2) and at the same time binds carbon (C) in roots and shoots. One part of this C transforms into soil organic C, and that is sometimes discussed in research, the public debate, and by IPCC. But the main part transforms into harvested crops, that is, cereals like wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), and other carbohydrate products like pea (Pisum sativum L.) or oilseed. This last‐mentioned photosynthesis effect is not, in the IPCC calculations, considered as a positive climate contribution from the agricultural sector. The consequence of this might be that policymakers will not understand the whole picture of agriculture in relation to climate effects; and therefore make decisions that affect food production, climate change, and biodiversity in a not optimal way from a holistic sustainability viewpoint.

Agriculture leaders identify critical issues facing crop production

“…The incremental changes necessary to address the change from current to anticipated future states will require thoughtful, tactical, and operational changes. The study at hand assists with such thoughtful changes and extends recent research (Francis et al, 2017;Frankelius, 2020) and studies (e.g., FAO, 2017) by examining industry-related issues more broadly and identifying a range of specific agricultural challenges of relevance now and in the near future. A panel of academic and industry experts were asked to identify the most critical issues facing industries related to crop and soil sciences.…”

“…According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO, 2017, p. xi), “High‐input, resource‐intensive farming systems, which have caused massive deforestation, water scarcities, soil depletion and high levels of greenhouse gas emissions, cannot deliver sustainable food and agricultural production.” Soil health and crop production are inextricably linked and have ecological, food, health, water, land, climate, and policy implications (Frankelius, 2020; Miner et al., 2020). Such implications determine how effective current and future challenges of climate changes and population growth will be approached and addressed (Francis et al., 2017; Royal Society of Chemistry, 2013).…”

Responsible Innovation in Industry: The Role of Firm’s Multi-Stakeholder Network

“…In agriculture, there are several sources of greenhouse gas emissions. Most of these different kinds are negative, but some are actually positive, not least oxygen production and the "opposite-to-emission" carbon dioxide uptake by plants (Frankelius 2020); see Fig. 15.2.…”

Evaluating the contribution of synthetic fungicides to cereal plant health and CO2reduction targets against the backdrop of the increasingly complex regulatory environment in Europe

“…The production of crops for fuel and fibres will therefore inevitably be in competition with crops grown for food and feed in the future. However, at the same time "harvest removal" such as with the off-take of grain or straw, in the terms of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 1997(IPCC, , 2006, is perceived as something negative, disturbing, and a contributor towards the negative impact of agriculture on climate change (Frankelius, 2020). The highly politically charged debates around agriculture are in danger of causing us to lose sight of what agriculture is there to achieve.…”