What might it cost to increase soil organic carbon using no-till on U.S. cropland?

Table 2 Weighted average annual soil organic carbon sequestration rates to 30 cm depth by USDA-ERS Farm Resource Region and soil disturbance sequence

Tillage sequence^b	USDA-ERS Farm Resource Region^a									Average
Tillage sequence^b	BRR	EUR	FRR	HR	MPR	NCR	NGPR	PGR	SSR	Average
Mg C ha⁻¹ year⁻¹
CTCTNT	0.32	0.41	0.25	0.46	0.44	0.47	0.40	0.32	0.28	0.38
CTRTNT	0.18	0.21	0.16	0.24	0.23	0.24	0.21	0.19	0.15	0.21
CTNTNT	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
RTCTNT	0.27	N/A^c	0.35	0.43	N/A	0.43	0.44	0.13	N/A	0.33
RTRTNT	0.26	0.18	0.13	0.24	0.19	0.24	0.23	0.20	0.12	0.23
RTNTNT	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
NCCTNT	0.30	0.41	0.21	0.46	0.38	0.47	0.40	0.33	0.30	0.39
NCRTNT	0.19	0.21	0.15	0.23	0.20	0.24	0.21	0.19	0.16	0.21
NCNTNT	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
Overall average	0.25	0.32	0.22	0.34	0.34	0.36	0.31	0.27	0.23

^aBRR = Basin and Range Region; EUR = Eastern Uplands Region; FRR = Fruitful Rim Region; HR = Heartland Region; MPR = Mississippi Portal Region; NCR = Northern Crescent Region; NGPR = Northern Great Plains Region; PGR = Prairie Gateway Region; SSR = Southern Seaboard Region
^bCTCTNT = Conventional tillage (CT) in 1982, CT in 1997 and no-till (NT) in 2017; CTRTNT = CT in 1982, reduced tillage (RT) in 1997 and NT in 2017; CTNTNT = CT in 1982, NT in 1997 and NT in 2017; RTCTNT = RT in 1982, CT in 1997 and NT in 2017; RTRTNT = RT in 1982, RT in 1997 and NT in 2017; RTNTNT = RT in 1982, NT in 1997 and NT in 2017; NCCTNT = Non-cropland (NC, e.g., hay, pasture, etc.) in 1982, CT in 1997 and NT in 2017; NCRTNT = NC in 1982, RT in 1997 and NT in 2017; NCNTNT = NC in 1982, NT in 1997 and NT in 2017
^cN/A indicates that this tillage sequence was not found in these Farm Resource Regions

ISSN: 1750-0680