Potential for U.S Agriculture to be Greenhouse Gas Negative

The report analyzes the potential for U.S. agriculture to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to negative levels by evaluating eight key areas: soil carbon sequestration, nitrogen use efficiency, animal production and management, crop production and yield gap, energy efficiency, food loss and waste, economic and policy research, and a summary of results and priorities. The study evaluates medium (50%) and high (75%) adoption scenarios of practices and technologies, demonstrating that high adoption of the 10 current best practices could reduce emissions by 604 Tg CO2e per year, exceeding 110% of current U.S. agricultural emissions. The three most effective practices identified are conservation tillage, variable nitrogen application and precision conservation, accounting for more than 40% of the emissions reduction potential. The work was developed by an independent scientific group established by USFRA in 2020, comprised of 26 leading researchers and reviewed by a six-person committee appointed by the National Academy of Sciences. The research concludes that while current carbon management practices alone are unlikely to result in net-negative agriculture, a high rate of adoption of these practices could bring U.S. agriculture very close to net carbon neutrality.