Carbon Storage in Cropland Soils: Insights from Iowa, United States

Jim Jordahl (), Marshall McDaniel, Bradley A. Miller, Michael Thompson, Sebastian Villarino and Lisa A. Schulte
Additional contact information
Jim Jordahl: Bioeconomy Institute, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, USA
Marshall McDaniel: Department of Agronomy, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, USA
Bradley A. Miller: Department of Agronomy, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, USA
Michael Thompson: Department of Agronomy, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, USA
Sebastian Villarino: Department of Agronomy, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, USA
Lisa A. Schulte: Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, USA

Land, 2023, vol. 12, issue 8, 1-24

Abstract: The restoration of soil organic matter (SOM, as measured by soil organic carbon (SOC)) within the world’s agricultural soils is imperative to sustaining crop production and restoring other ecosystem services. We compiled long-term studies on the effect of management practices on SOC from Iowa, USA—an agricultural region with relatively high-quality soil data—to highlight constraints on detecting changes in SOC and inform research needed to improve SOC measurement and management. We found that strip-tillage and no-tillage increased SOC by 0.25–0.43 Mg C ha −1 yr −1 compared to losses of 0.24 to 0.46 Mg C ha −1 yr −1 with more intensive tillage methods. The conversion of cropland to perennial grassland increased SOC by 0.21–0.74 Mg C ha −1 yr −1 . However, diversifying crop rotations with extended rotations, and supplementing synthetic fertilizer with animal manure, had highly variable and inconsistent effects on SOC. The improved prediction of changes in SOC requires: the use of methods that can identify and disentangle multiple sources of variability; looking beyond total SOC and toward systematic collection of data on more responsive and functionally relevant fractions; whole-profile SOC monitoring; monitoring SOC in long-term studies on the effect of multiple conservation practices used in combination; and deeper collaboration between field soil scientists and modelers.

Keywords: soil organic carbon stock; soil management; SOC measurement; SOM; variability; scaling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/12/8/1630/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/12/8/1630/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:12:y:2023:i:8:p:1630-:d:1220705

Access Statistics for this article

Land is currently edited by Ms. Carol Ma

More articles in Land from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().