Climate-Smart Agriculture Practices for Mitigating Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Abstract

Agricultural lands make up approximately 37% of the global land surface, and agriculture is a significant source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, including carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O). Those GHGs are responsible for the majority of the anthropogenic global warming effect. Agricultural GHG emissions are associated with agricultural soil management (e.g. tillage), use of both synthetic and organic fertilisers, livestock management, burning of fossil fuel for agricultural operations, and burning of agricultural residues and land use change. When natural ecosystems such as grasslands are converted to agricultural production, 20–40% of the soil organic carbon (SOC) is lost over time, following cultivation. We thus need to develop management practices that can maintain or even increase SOCstorage in and reduce GHG emissions from agricultural ecosystems. We need to design systematic approaches and agricultural strategies that can ensure sustainable food production under predicted climate change scenarios, approaches that are being called climate‐smart agriculture (CSA). Climate‐smart agricultural management practices, including conservation tillage, use of cover crops and biochar application to agricultural fields, and strategic application of synthetic and organic fertilisers have been considered a way to reduce GHG emission from agriculture. Agricultural management practices can be improved to decreasing disturbance to the soil by decreasing the frequency and extent of cultivation as a way to minimise soil C loss and/or to increase soil C storage. Fertiliser nitrogen (N) use efficiency can be improved to reduce fertilizer N application and N loss. Management measures can also be taken to minimise agricultural biomass burning. This chapter reviews the current literature on CSA practices that are available to reduce GHG emissions and increase soil Csequestration and develops a guideline on best management practices to reduce GHG emissions, increase C sequestration, and enhance crop productivity in agricultural production systems.

Using nitrification inhibitors and deep placement to tackle the trade‐offs between NH3 and N2O emissions in global croplands

“…Deep placement of urea was emphasized as one of the best management practices and can be achieved by machinery on large scale farms or hand‐held tools on smallholder farms in some developing countries (Powlson et al, 2018). Nowadays, commercialized products such as ENTEC contain DMPP and are gradually being applied in some cropping systems (Zaman et al, 2021). Therefore, the possibility of using deep placement of urea with NIs will be strengthened across global croplands, not only increasing N use efficiency, but also mitigating both NH 3 and N 2 O emissions.…”

“…Firstly, NIs would be required to be added to fertilizer N products during manufacture (so‐called stabilized fertilizer) to ensure widespread adoption. Such fertilizer products are already available on the market, for example, Instinct ® II and N‐Serve ® containing nitrapyrin, and ENTEC ® containing DMPP (Zaman et al, 2021). This embodied fertilization technology would be developed by incorporating NIs into urea, which would be particularly important in the countries with poor fertilizer management.…”

A Platform for GHG Emissions Management in Mixed Farms

“…This difficulty underlines the growing importance of software-based decision support systems (DSSs) that focus on GHG emissions. These advanced tools are designed to offer clear and specific guidance to users, helping them to effectively reduce GHG emissions in their farming operations [36].…”

What does it take to achieve net zero? Opportunities and barriers in the steel, cement, agriculture, and oil and gas sectors

“…Technological developments in agriculture can increase efficiency and yields and help avoid or limit expansion of agriculture to new areas, while also improving the resilience of crops and livestock to climate change. This includes changes in the management of farm inputs, such as reducing fertiliser and chemical use through precision agriculture; nitrification inhibitors; and the reduction of water, waste and energy use in farming practicesall of which are commonly labelled as climate-smart agriculture (Zaman et al 2021). A range of nature-based solutions for farms are also available, including agro-ecological practices such as low/zero tillage agriculture to improve the conservation of soil organic matter, changes to crop rotation to minimise soil disturbance; the use of cover crops, mulch and biochar to conserve and increase soil organic matter; and the adoption of agroforestry.…”

“…If implemented more systematically, they have the potential to drive a marked reduction in emissions from agriculture. Foremost among these are climate-smart agriculture techniques (Zaman et al 2021), such as curbing the massive and widespread over-application of fertilisers (Tian et al 2020), together with both on-and off-farm nature-based solutions such as zero-tillage agriculture (Mangalassery et al 2014) and the restoration of soil organic matter and above-ground biomass on degraded land (Strassburg et al 2020).…”