title: Greenhouse gas mitigation in agriculture.
abstract: Agricultural lands occupy 37% of the earth's land surface. Agriculture accounts for 52 and 84% of global anthropogenic methane and nitrous oxide emissions. Agricultural soils may also act as a sink or source for CO2, but the net flux is small. Many agricultural practices can potentially mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the most prominent of which are improved cropland and grazing land management and restoration of degraded lands and cultivated organic soils. Lower, but still significant mitigation potential is provided by water and rice management, set-aside, land use change and agroforestry, livestock management and manure management. The global technical mitigation potential from agriculture (excluding fossil fuel offsets from biomass) by 2030, considering all gases, is estimated to be approximately 5500-6000Mt CO2-eq.yr-1, with economic potentials of approximately 1500-1600, 2500-2700 and 4000-4300Mt CO2-eq.yr-1 at carbon prices of up to 20, up to 50 and up to 100 US$ t CO2-eq.-1, respectively. In addition, GHG emissions could be reduced by substitution of fossil fuels for energy production by agricultural feedstocks (e.g. crop residues, dung and dedicated energy crops). The economic mitigation potential of biomass energy from agriculture is estimated to be 640, 2240 and 16 000Mt CO2-eq.yr-1 at 0-20, 0-50 and 0-100 US$ t CO2-eq.-1, respectively.
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB24 3UU, UK. pete.smith@abdn.ac.uk
authors.forename: Pete
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Martino
authors.forename: Zucong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gwary
authors.forename: Henry
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Janzen
authors.forename: Pushpam
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: Bruce
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: McCarl
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ogle
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: O'Mara
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rice
authors.forename: Bob
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Scholes
authors.forename: Oleg
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Sirotenko
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Howden
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: McAllister
authors.forename: Genxing
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.forename: Vladimir
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Romanenkov
authors.forename: Uwe
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.forename: Sirintornthep
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Towprayoon
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wattenbach
authors.forename: Jo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Smith
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods*; D000822:Animal Husbandry / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods*; D000818:Animals; D018533:Biomass; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000378:metabolism; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D018556:Crops, Agricultural / Q000378:metabolism*; D017753:Ecosystem; D004736:Energy-Generating Resources / Q000191:economics; D017752:Greenhouse Effect; D006801:Humans; D008372:Manure