Agroecosystems / Carbon Sequestration Research Focus |
Iowa Final Report
Impacts EPA estimates that Iowa’s 1997 fossil fuel combustion emissions are 18.51 MMTCE (EPA 2001). The combustion of 1.45 short tons of coal or 424 U.S. gallons of gasoline will produce 1.0 short tons of C emissions in CO2 (EPA, 2000). The effect of conservation practices on Iowa cropland are removing the equivalent amount of CO2 from the atmosphere that is produced from the combustion of 4.49 million tons, or 37,417 train cars of coal, or 1.3 billion gallons of gasoline. Decisions by land managers to use sound conservation practices on cropland are providing an offset of 16.7% of Iowa's 1997 fossil fuel emissions. If C is valued at $10 per tonne, Iowa cropland soils are providing a benefit of $31 million annually by current application of conservation practices by local land managers. Over 50 percent of Iowa cropland is using intensive tillage practices in 1998, therefore any changes in management to move away from intensive tillage into moderate or no tillage systems will have the potential to sequester large amounts of C over time. The 'Iowa Carbon Potentials' database provides local land managers the ability to estimate these C changes due to management changes and allows them to assess the impact of these changes. |