
Greenhouse gas emissions: why monitoring and action is critical in agricultural landscapes
While most people are familiar with the term “greenhouse gas” as it pertains to the carbon dioxide produced by our vehicles, there are lesser-known sources of these potent agents of climate change that have a huge impact on global greenhouse gas (GHG) emission budgets. In particular, crop and livestock production contribute emissions in several ways, allowing the agriculture sector to be the 4th highest contributor of GHG emissions after the commercial/residential, industry, and transportation sectors (Figure 1, left). One of those pathways is the application of synthetic and organic fertilizers. If applied in excess, the remaining nitrogen in fields creates an opportunity for the production of nitrous oxide (N2O), a key contributor to GHG. (Figure 2, below). Because of this, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other state and federal agencies are prioritizing mitigation strategies for agriculture-based GHG emissions. This last action has become critical as environmental conditions due to climate change continue to impact U.S. agricultural lands.
Tracking GHGs requires sophisticated sampling tools and techniques that are best suited to our planet’s varying environments. Manual sampling uses highly specialized and automated monitoring equipment but is often cost-preclusive for many entities. Therefore, while water and soil sampling are often standard practices when assessing environmental health in an agricultural system, GHG emission sampling may not fit within the corporate budget. To better address the GHG manual sampling cost issue, manufacturers have released trace gas analyzers that can instantaneously and simultaneously measure multiple GHGs with a handheld device that Waterborne's scientists and researchers have found greatly simplifies the process over more cumbersome and costly systems.
The instruments used to measure GHG emissions from agricultural soils are often equipped with a “chamber” or a dome-like structure that sits on top of the soil surface. This chamber captures gases that are being emitted at that moment. GHG emissions like N2O are notoriously non-uniform throughout a space and change throughout the year due to microbial community abundance and changing soil conditions. Handheld instruments allow our scientists and researchers to take instantaneous readings from many sampling locations in a single day, and repeat those measurements throughout changing climatic conditions.
Measuring GHGs is only the first step in reducing emissions. The longer-term strategy is through best management practices (BMPs). For example, to reduce the potential of elevated N2O emissions from soils, producers are encouraged to research and plan their fertilizer use for times and in quantities that will still promote plant growth while eliminating excess nitrogen-laden soils. Application-based BMPs has additional advantages: by optimizing the application of fertilizer and increasing nitrogen use efficiency by crops, producers are actively reducing their GHG footprint and preventing nutrient losses from their fields to adjacent streams and lakes.
Waterborne will continue to be on the leading edge of GHG monitoring, particularly in the agricultural landscape, to ensure that our clients receive the cutting edge data they’ll need now and well into the future.
Figure 1. Graph of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by economic sector from 1990 - 2022. Source: U.S. EPA's Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990 - 2022.
Figure 2. Simplified diagram of the nitrogen cycle in agricultural soils, featuring the inputs and outputs of microbial denitrification (DN). When excess ammonium (NH4)-based fertilizer is present in soils under the right conditions, it is converted to nitrate (NO3-) and subject to microbial denitrification. The ultimate end-product of complete DN is the inert nitrogen gas (N2)

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