• Authors:
    • Rosegrant, M.
    • Derner, J. D.
    • Schuman, G. E.
    • Verchot, L.
    • Steinfeld, H.
    • Gerber, P.
    • De Freitas, P. L.
    • Lal, R.
    • Desjardins, R. L.
    • Dumanski, J.
  • Source: Applied Agrometeorology
  • Year: 2010
  • Summary: Agriculture can make significant contributions to climate change mitigation by (a) increasing soil organic carbon (SOC) sinks, (b) reducing GHG emissions, and (c) off-setting fossil fuel by promoting biofuels. The latter has the potential to counter-balance fossil fuel emissions to some degree, but the overall impact is still uncertain compared to emissions of non-CO2 GHGs, which are likely to increase as production systems intensify. Agricultural lands also remove CH4 from the atmosphere by oxidation, though less than forestlands (Tate et al. 2006; Verchot et al. 2000), but this effect is small compared to other GHG fluxes (Smith and Conen 2004).
  • Authors:
    • Janssen, L. L.
    • Diersen, M. A.
    • Beutler, M. K.
    • Johnson, P. S.
    • Gates, R. N.
    • Smart, A. J.
    • Dunn, B. H.
  • Source: Rangeland Ecology & Management
  • Volume: 63
  • Issue: 20
  • Year: 2010
  • Summary: Conventional wisdom among rangeland professionals has been that for long-term sustainability of grazing livestock operations, rangeland should be kept in high good to low excellent range condition. Our objective was to analyze production parameters, costs, returns, and profit using data generated over a 34 year period (1969-2002) from grazing a Clayey range site in the mixed-grass prairie of western South Dakota with variable stocking rates to maintain pastures in low-fair, good, and excellent range condition classes. Cattle weights were measured at turnout and at the end of the grazing season. Gross income*ha-1 was the product of gain*ha-1 and price. Prices were based on historical National Agricultural Statistics Services feeder cattle prices. Annual variable costs were estimated using a yearling cattle budget developed by South Dakota State University agricultural economists. All economic values were adjusted to a constant dollar using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Price Index. Stocking rate, average daily gain, total gain, net profit, gross revenue, and annual costs*ha-1 varied among range condition classes. Net income for low-fair range condition ($27.61*ha -1) and good range condition ($29.43*ha-1) were not different, but both were greater than excellent range condition ($23.01*ha-1). Over the life of the study, real profit (adjusted for inflation) steadily increased for the low-fair and good treatments while it remained level for the excellent treatment. Neither drought nor wet springs impacted profit differently for the three treatments. These results support generally observed rancher behavior regarding range condition: to maintain their rangeland in lower range condition than would be recommended by rangeland professionals. Ecosystem goods and services of increasing interest to society and associated with high range condition, such as floristic diversity, hydrologic function, and some species of wildlife, come at an opportunity cost to the rancher.
  • Authors:
    • Jenkins, W. A.
    • Kramer, R. A.
    • Elsin, Y. K.
  • Source: Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
  • Volume: 136
  • Year: 2010
  • Authors:
    • ERS
  • Volume: 2010
  • Year: 2010
  • Authors:
    • ERS,USDA
  • Volume: 2012
  • Year: 2010
  • Authors:
    • Dilling, L.
    • Failey, E. L.
  • Source: Environmental Research Letters
  • Volume: 5
  • Issue: 2
  • Year: 2010
  • Summary: Land use and its role in reducing greenhouse gases is a key element of policy negotiations to address climate change. Calculations of the potential for enhanced terrestrial sequestration have largely focused on the technical characteristics of carbon stocks, such as vegetation type and management regime, and to some degree, on economic incentives. However, the actual potential for carbon sequestration critically depends on who owns the land and additional land management decision drivers. US land ownership patterns are complex, and consequently land use decision making is driven by a variety of economic, social and policy incentives. These patterns and incentives make up the 'carbon stewardship landscape'-that is, the decision making context for carbon sequestration. We examine the carbon stewardship landscape in the US state of Colorado across several public and private ownership categories. Achieving the full potential for land use management to help mitigate carbon emissions requires not only technical feasibility and financial incentives, but also effective implementing mechanisms within a suite of often conflicting and hard to quantify factors such as multiple-use mandates, historical precedents, and non-monetary decision drivers.
  • Authors:
    • Reed, D. A.
    • Follett, R. F.
  • Source: Rangeland & Ecology Management
  • Volume: 63
  • Issue: 1
  • Year: 2010
  • Summary: This forum manuscript examines the importance of grazing lands for sequestering soil organic carbon (SOC), providing societal benefits, and potential influences on them of emerging policies and legislation. Global estimates are that grazing lands occupy similar to 3.6 billion ha and account for about one-fourth of potential carbon (C) sequestration in world soils. They remove the equivalent of similar to 20% of the carbon dioxide (CO2) released annually into the earth's atmosphere from global deforestation and land-use changes. Atmospheric CO2 enters grazing lands soils through photosynthetic assimilation by green plants, subsequent cycling, and sequestration of some of that C as SOC to in turn contribute to the ability of grazing lands to provide societal (environmental and economic) benefits in every country where they exist. Environmental benefits provided include maintenance and well-being of immediate and surrounding soil and water resources, air quality, human and wildlife habitat, and esthetics. Grazing lands contribute to the economic well-being of those living on the land, to trade, and to exchange of goods and services derived from them at local, regional, or national levels. Rates of SOC sequestration vary with climate, soil, and management; examples and conditions selected from US literature illustrate the SOC sequestration that might be achieved. Public efforts, policy considerations, and research in the United States illustrate possible alternatives that impact grazing lands. Discussion of US policy issues related to SOC sequestration and global climate change reflect the importance attached to these topics and of pending legislative initiatives in the United States. Addressing primarily US policy does not lessen the importance of such issues in other countries, but allows an in-depth analysis of legislation, US Department of Agriculture program efforts, soil C credits in greenhouse gas markets, and research needs.
  • Authors:
    • Franzluebbers,A. J.
  • Source: Soil Science Society of America Journal
  • Volume: 74
  • Issue: 2
  • Year: 2010
  • Summary: Conservation management of degraded land has the potential to build soil fertility, restore soil functions, and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions as a consequence of surface soil organic matter accumulation. Literature from the southeastern United States was reviewed and synthesized to: (i) quantitatively evaluate the magnitude and rate of soil organic C (SOC) sequestration with conservation agricultural management; (ii) evaluate how conservation management affects surface SOC accumulation and its implications on ecosystem services; and (iii) recommend practical soil sampling strategies based on spatial and temporal issues to improve the detection of statistically significant SOC sequestration. Soil organic C sequestration was 0.45 ± 0.04 Mg C ha-1 yr-1 (mean ± standard error, n = 147, 20 ± 1 cm depth, 11 ± 1 yr) with conservation tillage compared with conventional tillage cropland. Establishment of perennial pastures sequestered 0.84 ± 0.11 Mg C ha-1 yr-1 (n = 35, 25 ± 2 cm depth, 17 ± 1 yr). Stratification of SOC with depth was common under conservation agricultural management and appears to be integrally linked to abatement of soil erosion, improvement in water quality, and SOC sequestration. Sampling of conservation management systems should ideally occur repeatedly with time in controlled and replicated experiments, but there is also an urgent need for chronosequence and paired-field surveys of SOC on working farms in the region to validate and expand the scope of inference of experimental results. Landowners in the southeastern United States have great potential to restore soil fertility and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions with the adoption of and improvement in conservation agricultural systems (e.g., continuous no-till, high-residue crop rotations, high organic matter inputs).
  • Authors:
    • Franzluebbers, A. J.
  • Source: Soil Organic Matter and Nutrient Cycling to Sustain Agriculture in the Southeastern USA
  • Year: 2010
  • Authors:
    • Flowers, J. D.
    • Izaurralde, C.
    • Hauck, L. M.
    • Osei, E.
    • Saleh, A.
    • Wang, X.
    • Williams, J. R.
    • Gassman, P. W.
  • Source: Transactions of the ASABE
  • Volume: 53
  • Issue: 3
  • Year: 2010
  • Summary: The Agricultural Policy Environmental eXtender (APEX) model was developed by the Blacklands Research and Extension Center in Temple, Texas. APEX is a flexible and dynamic tool that is capable of simulating a wide array of management practices, cropping systems, and other land use across a broad range of agricultural landscapes, including whole farms and small watersheds. The model can be configured for novel land management strategies, such as filter strip impacts on pollutant losses from upslope cropfields, intensive rotational grazing scenarios depicting movement of cows between paddocks, vegetated grassed waterways in combination with filter strip impacts, and land application of manure removal from livestock feedlots or waste storage ponds. A description of the APEX model is provided, including an overview of all the major components in the model. Applications of the model are then reviewed, starting with livestock manure and other management scenarios performed for Livestock and the Environment: A National Pilot Project (NPP), and then continuing with feedlot, pesticide, forestry, buffer strip, conservation practice, and other management or land use scenarios performed at the plot, field, watershed, or regional scale. The application descriptions include a summary of calibration and/or validation results obtained for the different NPP assessments as well as for other APEX simulation studies. Available APEX Geographic Information System–based or Windows-based interfaces are also described, as are forthcoming future improvements and additional research needs for the model.