Mitigating Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Cultivated Organic Soils Carrots, Pastures, Barley or Potatoes? Which Crop to Choose?

Authors:
Lisbet Norberg, Örjan Berglund and Kerstin Berglund

Book:
Proceedings of the 14th International Peat Congress

Venue:
Stockholm

Keywords:
cropping-system, greenhouse-gas-emission, myrklima, organic-soil, peat

Documentfile:
Norberg et al 2012: Mitigating Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Cultivated Organic Soils Carrots, Pastures, Barley or Potatoes? Whi

Summary:

Theme III. Agricultural use of peat and peatlands

SUMMARY

In Sweden drained cultivated organic soils contribute to a substantial part of total emissions of greenhouse gases. The aim of this study was to investigate if it is possible for the farmer to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions by choosing a specific cropping system. In this study two different crops grown on the same field were compared regarding their emissions of CO₂ and CH₄. A range of different organic soils with various soil properties were used. The results show that the differences in greenhouse gas emissions are greater between sites than between crops. The conclusion in this study is that it is not possible to mitigate the greenhouse gas emission from drained organic soils by changing the cultivated crop.