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Agriculture as a Source of GHGs

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Book cover Climate Resilient Agriculture for Ensuring Food Security

Abstract

Agricultural activities – the cultivation of crops and livestock for food – contribute to emissions in a variety of ways. Various management practices for agricultural soils can lead to production and emission of nitrous oxide (N2O). Several activities that can contribute to N2O emissions from agricultural lands range from fertilizer application to methods of irrigation and tillage. Management of agricultural soils accounts for over half of the emissions from the agriculture sector.

Livestock, especially cattle, produce methane (CH4) as part of their digestion. This process is called enteric fermentation, and it represents almost one-third of the emissions from the agriculture sector.

The way in which manure from livestock is managed also contributes to CH4 and N2O emissions. Manure storage methods and the amount of exposure to oxygen and moisture can affect how these greenhouse gases are produced. Manure management accounts for about 13 % of the total greenhouse gas emissions from the agriculture sector in the United States.

Smaller sources of emissions include rice cultivation, which produces CH4, and burning crop residues, which produce CH4 and N2O.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Bangalore, Karnataka, India

    P. Parvatha Reddy

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  1. P. Parvatha Reddy
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Reddy, P.P. (2015). Agriculture as a Source of GHGs. In: Climate Resilient Agriculture for Ensuring Food Security. Springer, New Delhi. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-2199-9_3

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