Decoupling Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Crop Production: A Case Study in the Heilongjiang Land Reclamation Area, China (original) (raw)
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Quantifying the carbon footprint of crop production can help identify key options to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture. Using farm survey data from eastern China, the carbon footprints of three major grain crops (rice, wheat and maize) were assessed by quantifying the greenhouse gas emissions from individual inputs and farming operations with a full life cycle assessment methodology. The farm carbon footprint in terms of farm area was estimated to be 6.0 ± 0.1, 3.0 ± 0.2, and 2.3 ± 0.1 t CO 2-eq ha À1 , and the product carbon footprint in terms of grain produced was 0.80 ± 0.02, 0.66 ± 0.03, and 0.33 ± 0.02 t CO 2-eq t À1 grain for rice, wheat and maize, respectively. Use of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers contributed 44e79% and mechanical operations 8e15%, of the total carbon footprints. Irrigation and direct methane emission made a significant contribution by 19% and by 25%, on average respectively for rice production. However, irrigation was only responsible for 2e3% of the total carbon footprints in wheat and maize. The carbon footprints of wheat and maize production varied among climate regions, and this was explained largely by the differences in inputs of nitrogen fertilizers and mechanical operations to support crop management. Moreover, a significant decrease (22e28%) in the product carbon footprint both of wheat and maize was found in large sized farms, compared to smaller ones. This study demonstrated that carbon footprint of crop production could be affected by farm size and climate condition as well as crop management practices. Improving crop management practices by reducing nitrogen fertilizer use and developing large scaled farms with intensive farming could be strategic options to mitigate climate change in Chinese agriculture.
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Characterizing the carbon footprint (CF) of agricultural production offers key information for pursuing low carbon agriculture and food consumption. While China has long strived for increasing food production capacity for its large and still growing population, the high emissions cost, especially from the over use of agro-chemicals, has been widely debated for the last decade. However, the CF of China's crop production has not yet been assessed. This paper reports a basic estimate of CF of crop production using national statistical data available for the period of 1993-2007. The dataset includes the amount of individual agricultural inputs (fertilizer, pesticide, diesel, plastic film, etc.), cultivation area and total of production whole crops. Using the emission factors estimated for China's agricultural features and available abroad, the mean overall CF of China's crop production was estimated to be 0.78 ± 0.08 tCE ha −1 yr −1 and 0.11 ± 0.01 tCE t −1 yr −1 , for land use and bulk production respectively. For the duration the data covered, the carbon intensity under cultivation land use was seen to increase since 1993. Among the total, fertilizer induced emissions exerted the largest contribution of ∼60%, being 0.45 ± 0.04 tCE per ha and 0.07 ± 0.01 tCE per ton of production, on average. Compared to the UK, the estimated overall CF of China's crop production was higher in terms of cultivation land use. While there was a significant positive correlation of carbon intensity with total production, carbon efficiency was shown in a decreasing trend during 2003-2007. Therefore, low carbon agriculture should be pursued, and the priority should be given to reducing fertilizer application in agriculture of China. However, for developing best management practices for climate change mitigation in crop production of China, further studies of crop and regional specific CFs and the variation with climate conditions and agricultural managements are needed.
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Chinese cropping systems are a net source of greenhouse gases despite soil carbon sequestration
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Soil carbon sequestration is being considered as a potential pathway to mitigate climate change. Cropland soils could provide a sink for carbon that can be modified by farming practices, however, they can also act as a source of greenhouse gases (GHG), including not only nitrous oxide (N O) and methane (CH ), but also the upstream carbon dioxide (CO ) emissions associated with agronomic management. These latter emissions are also sometimes termed "hidden" or "embedded" CO . In this paper, we estimated the net GHG balance for Chinese cropping systems by considering the balance of soil carbon sequestration, N O and CH emissions, and the upstream CO emissions of agronomic management from a life cycle perspective during 2000-2017. Results showed that although soil organic carbon (SOC) increased by 23.2±8.6 Tg C yr , the soil N O and CH emissions plus upstream CO emissions arising from agronomic management added 269.5±21.1 Tg C-eq yr to the atmosphere. These findings ...
Management opportunities to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from Chinese agriculture
Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 2015
Agriculture accounts for approximately 11% of China's national greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Through adoption of region-specific best management practices, Chinese farmers can contribute to emission reduction while maintaining food security for its large population (>1300 Million). This paper presents the outcome of a bottom-up assessment to quantify technical potential of mitigation measures for Chinese agriculture using meta-analysis of data from 240 publications for cropland, 67 publications for grassland and 139 publications for livestock, and provides the reference scenario for the cost analysis of identified mitigation measures. Management options with greatest mitigation potential for rice, or rice-based cropping systems are conservation tillage, controlled irrigation; replacement of urea with ammonium sulphate, nitrogen (N) inhibitor application, reduced N fertilizer application, integrated ricefish-duck farming and biochar application. A 15% reduction in current average synthetic N fertilizer application for rice in China i.e., 231 kg N ha À1 , would result in 12% decrease in direct soil nitrous oxide (N 2 O) emissions. Combined application of chemical and organic fertilizer, conservation tillage, biochar application and reduced N application are possible measures that can reduce overall GHG emissions from upland cropping systems. Conventional fertilizer inputs for greenhouse vegetables are more than 2-8 times the optimal crop nutrient demand. A 20-40% reduction in N fertilizer application to vegetable crops can reduce N 2 O emissions by 32-121%, while not negatively impacting the yield. One of the most important mitigation measures for agricultural grasslands could be conversion of low yielding cropland, particularly on slopes, to shrub land or grassland, which is also a promising option to decrease soil erosion. In addition, grazing exclusion and reduced grazing intensity can increase SOC sequestration and decrease overall emissions while improving the largely degraded grasslands. For livestock production, where poor quality forage is commonly fed, improving grazing management and diet quality can reduce methane (CH 4 ) emissions by 11% and 5%, on average. Dietary supplements can reduce CH 4 emissions further, with lipids (15% reduction) and tannins or saponins (11% reduction) showing the greatest potential. We also suggest the most economically cost-effective mitigation measures, drawing on related work on the construction of marginal abatement cost curves for the sector.
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Modern agriculture often leads to nonpoint source pollution. From the perspective of a decoupling analysis, this research evaluates the relationship between crop production and agricultural nonpoint source pollution (via fertilizer application), using the Heilongjiang land reclamation area as a case study. As it is the largest commodity grain base and green food base in China, more than 80% of water pollution in this area comes from fertilizer application. This study adopts an export coefficient model to hindcast nitrogen loss delivered to surface water via fertilizer application and conduct a further analysis of decoupling agricultural nonpoint source pollution from crop production. The results indicated that weak decoupling frequently occurred. However, this tendency was not steady in the period 2001-2012, and weak decoupling was typical in each branch based on the average value. Regarding the example of decoupling agricultural nonpoint source pollution from rice production, weak decoupling occurred more often, but this tendency was not steady over time. In addition, expansive coupling occurred in 2006, 2010 and 2012, and there were no definite signs of it improving. All branches, except for the Suihua branch, reached the degree of weak decoupling. A basic fact is that a decoupling tendency and environmental deterioration coexist in both the past and present. The decoupling analysis will contribute to localized strategies for sustainable agricultural development.
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The study investigates the symmetric and asymmetric impact of agriculturalization on environmental quality in sample of selected Asian economies for time period 1991 to 2019. For empirical analysis, the study adopted ARDL-PMG and NARDL-PMG approaches. The long-run findings of ARDL-PMG reveal that agriculturalization tends to significantly improve the quality of environment. The empirical outcomes of NARDL-PMG infer that positive shock in agriculturalization results in enhancing environmental quality, however, the negative shock in agriculturalization (i.e., de-agriculturalization) leads to deterioration of environmental quality in the long-run. The findings demonstrate that agriculturalization improves environmental quality and de-agriculturalization mitigates environmental quality. Based on these findings, the study recommends that the relevant authorities should formulate such reforms in the agriculture sector that controls and reduces carbon emissions in Asian economies.
Agricultural Systems
China is the largest rice producing and consuming country in the world, accounting for more than 25% of global production and consumption. Rice cultivation is also one of the main sources of anthropogenic methane (CH 4) and nitrous oxide (N 2 O) emissions. The challenge of maintaining food security while reducing greenhouse gas emissions is an important tradeoff issue for both scientists and policy makers. A systematical evaluation of tradeoffs requires attention across spatial scales and over time in order to characterize the complex interactions across agricultural systems components. We couple three well-known models that capture different key agricultural processes in order to improve the tradeoff analysis. These models are the DNDC biogeochemical model of soil denitrification-decomposition processes, the DSSAT crop growth and development model for decision support and agrotechnology analysis, and the regional AEZ crop productivity assessment tool based on agroecological analysis. The calibration of eco-physiological parameters and model evaluation used the phenology and management records of 1981-2010 at nine agro-meteorological stations spanning the major rice producing regions of China. The eco-physiological parameters were calibrated with the GLUE optimization algorithms of DSSAT and then converted to the counterparts of DNDC. The upscaling of DNDC was carried out within each cropping zone as classified by AEZ. The emissions of CH 4 and N 2 O associated with rice production under different management scenarios were simulated with the DNDC at each site and also each 10×10 km grid-cell across each cropping zone. Our results indicate that it is feasible to maintain rice yields while reducing CH 4 and N 2 O emissions through careful management changes. Our simulations indicated that a reduction of fertilizer applications by 5-35% and the introduction of midseason drainage across the nine study sites resulted in reduced CH 4 emission by 17-40% and N 2 O emission by 12-60%, without negative consequences on rice yield. KEY WORDS: Climate change; agricultural CH 4 and N 2 O emissions; rice yield; model coupling; mitigation tradeoffs; China analysis of crop yield under climate change and adaptation. Nature Clim. Change 4:287-291.
Cropland Displacement Drives Carbon Emission of Grain Transport in China
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Cropland displacement is a worldwide land-use phenomenon that involves replacing cropland occupied by urbanization with newly developed cropland in remote areas. Large-scale cropland displacement to some extent helps secure food supply to the growing urban population but also drives a great need for grain transport, which leads to rising energy consumption and carbon emission. Here we show a systematic evaluation of the carbon emission associated with grain transport at the prefecture-level in China in 1990 and 2015. We found that the total emission of grain transport in China more than doubled from 4.46 million-ton to 10.73 million-ton during this period. Cropland displacement contributed more than 60% of the increased carbon emission, while dietary change and population growth contributed 31.7% and 16.6%, respectively. In contrast, improvement of transport infrastructures offset 0.54 million-ton of the increased emission. Based on the research results, we provide policy suggestion...