Agriculture is on the front lines of a changing climate. While numerous efforts have been devoted to developing individual climate-smart solutions, such as no-till farming, cover crop, and improved crop protection products, scientific data and analytics are in urgent need to provide a quantitative assessment of the integrated effect of these approaches on build-up of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere. In line with Syngenta’s sustainability priorities of soil health & climate, the objective of this project is to assess the potential impact of crop protection inputs integrated with Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) management practices to field GHG emissions and soil health in the U.S. Field plots with different treatments have been established. Those treatments include different combinations of agricultural management practices and inputs of crop protection. Three common agricultural management techniques, including conventional no-tillage, cover cropping, and intercropping cultivation were used, and three levels of inputs of crop protection products (no input, low inputs, and high inputs) have been applied to the plots. We measured the difference in those plots in terms of: (1) soil GHG emissions, (2) weed populations, (3) soil properties, and (4) crop yields. Preliminary analysis showed that crop protection input levels did not have statistically significant impact on carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane fluxes. The GHG fluxes were found primarily impacted by soil moisture and soil temperature. The agricultural management techniques are statistically significant for influencing emission of methane from the field. The results of this project will provide a sound scientific basis in developing efficient strategies in reduction of the field GHG footprint for a carbon-neutral future of agriculture.

Mitigating climate change – Assessment of innovative approaches integrating climate-smart practices and crop protection products to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) in agriculture

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ACS Fall 2022

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.