Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 19, 2025
11:53
Spatial Multiobjective Optimization of Agricultural Conservation Practices using a SWAT Model and an Evolutionary Algorithm
Published on: December 9, 2012
13.1K
Managing for climate and production goals on crop-lands
Shelby C McClelland1,2, Deborah Bossio3, Doria R Gordon4,5
1Soil and Crop Sciences, School of Integrative Plant Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY USA.
Nature Climate Change
|June 16, 2025
Summary
Natural climate solutions (NCS) on croplands rarely offer both climate mitigation and crop production benefits. While some practices show short-term gains, long-term impacts often involve trade-offs, suggesting limited roles in food system decarbonization.
Area of Science:
- Agricultural Science
- Climate Science
- Environmental Science
Background:
- The potential for crop-land natural climate solutions (NCS) to simultaneously mitigate climate change and enhance crop production is widely assumed but not rigorously evaluated.
- Understanding these dual impacts is crucial for sustainable agriculture and effective climate action.
Purpose of the Study:
- To model greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and crop yields associated with various crop-land NCS strategies.
- To assess the likelihood of achieving "win-win" outcomes (climate benefits and yield increases) across different scenarios and agricultural contexts.
Main Methods:
- Utilized modeling to project GHG emissions and crop yields from crop-land NCS through the end of the century.
- Analyzed specific NCS practices, including grass and legume cover crops with no-tillage farming.
- Investigated the influence of soil properties (nitrogen, clay content) on NCS outcomes.
Main Results:
- Favorable "win-win" outcomes from crop-land NCS were found to be exceptional rather than the norm.
- Grass cover crops with no tillage significantly mitigated GHGs by 2050 but reduced crop yields.
- Legume cover crops with no tillage showed benefits through 2050 but could increase regional GHG emissions by 2100.
- Crop-lands with low soil nitrogen and high clay content were more likely to yield favorable results.
- Avoiding crop losses yielded modest GHG mitigation, indicating limited potential for crop-land soils in overall food system decarbonization.
Conclusions:
- Crop-land NCS present trade-offs between climate mitigation and crop production, challenging the assumption of universal benefits.
- The effectiveness of NCS varies significantly based on the specific practice, region, and soil characteristics.
- Crop-land soils are likely to contribute only a small fraction to the decarbonization of the food system.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
01:16What is Climate?
19.2K
Climate refers to the prevailing weather conditions in a specific area over an extended period. As the saying goes, “Climate is what you expect. Weather is what you get.” Climate is influenced by geographic factors, such as latitude, terrain, and proximity to bodies of water.
19.2K
01:57Adaptations that Reduce Water Loss
26.4K
Though evaporation from plant leaves drives transpiration, it also results in loss of water. Because water is critical for photosynthetic reactions and other cellular processes, evolutionary pressures on plants in different environments have driven the acquisition of adaptations that reduce water loss.
26.4K
01:43Sustainable Development
13.6K
As the human population continues to grow and use resources, we must be mindful of our planet’s natural limits. Sustainable development provides a pathway to maintain and improve human life now while also ensuring that future generations will have the resources that they need. The long-term success of sustainability efforts rests on understanding the interplay between human actions and ecological systems.
13.6K
02:41Responses to Drought and Flooding
11.1K
Water plays a significant role in the life cycle of plants. However, insufficient or excess of water can be detrimental and pose a serious threat to plants.
11.1K
01:50Global Climate Change
24.8K
Throughout its ~4.5 billion year history, the Earth has experienced periods of warming and cooling. However, the current drastic increase in global temperatures is well outside of the Earth’s cyclic norms, and evidence for human-caused global climate change is compelling. Paleoclimatology, the study of ancient climate conditions, provides ample evidence for human-caused global climate change by comparing recent conditions with those in the past.
24.8K
01:27C4 Pathway and CAM
46.3K
Most plants use the C3 pathway for carbon fixation. However, some plants, such as sugar cane, corn, and cacti that grow in hot conditions, use alternative pathways to fix carbon and conserve energy loss due to photorespiration. Photorespiration is the process that occurs when the oxygen concentration is high. Under such conditions, the rubisco enzyme in the Calvin cycle binds O2 instead of CO2, which halts photosynthesis and consumes energy.
C4 Pathway
The C4 pathway is used by plants such as...
C4 Pathway
The C4 pathway is used by plants such as...
46.3K