Quantifying On‐Farm Nitrous Oxide Emission Reductions in Food Supply Chains

Authors

A.J. Eagle, Environmental Defense FundFollow
E. McLellan, Environmental Defense Fund
E.M. Brawner, Environmental Defense Fund (contractor)
M.H. Chantigny, Quebec Research and Development Center, Agriculture and Agri‐Food Canada
Eric A. Davidson, University of Maryland Center for Environmental ScienceFollow
J.B. Dickey, PlanTierra LLC., Davis
Bruce A. Linquist, University of California, Davis
T.M. Maaz, University of Hawaii at Mānoa
D.E. Pelster, Quebec Research and Development Center, Agriculture and Agri‐Food Canada
Cameron M. Pittelkow, University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignFollow
C. van Kessel, University of California, Davis
T.J. Vyn, Agronomy Department, Purdue University
K. G. Cassman, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

ORCID IDs

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0841-2379

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3326-9992

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8525-8697

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0750-8427

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4776-1769

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0461-7855

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8654-9552

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9860-4475

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9775-3468

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2020

Citation

Eagle, A. J., McLellan, E. L., Brawner, E. M., Chantigny, M. H., Davidson, E. A., Dickey, J. B., et al. (2020). Quantifying on‐farm nitrous oxide emission reductions in food supply chains. Earth's Future, 8, e2020EF001504. https://doi.org/ 10.1029/2020EF001504

Comments

2020 The Authors.

Abstract

Reducing nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from agriculture is critical to limiting future global warming. In response, a growing number of food retailers and manufacturers have committed to reducing N2O emissions from their vast networks of farmer suppliers by providing technical assistance and financial incentives. A key challenge for such companies is demonstrating that their efforts are leading to meaningful progress toward their climate mitigation commitments. We show that a simplified version of soil surface nitrogen (N) balance—or partial N balance—the difference between N inputs to and outputs

from a farm field (fertilizer N minus crop N), is a robust indicator of direct N2O emissions from fields with maize and other major rainfed temperate‐region crops. Furthermore, we present a generalized environmental model that will allow food‐supply‐chain companies to translate aggregated and anonymized changes in average N balance across their supplying farms into aggregated changes in N2O emissions. This research is an important first step, based on currently available science, in helping companies demonstrate the impact of their sustainability efforts.