TY - JOUR
T1 - Energy use and greenhouse gas emissions from crop production using the farm energy analysis tool
AU - Camargo, Gustavo G.T.
AU - Ryan, Matthew R.
AU - Richard, Tom L.
N1 - Funding Information:
Support for this research was generously provided by the Morgan Family Foundation, the Department of Transportation Northeast Sun Grant Initiative, the Richard King Mellon Foundation, and the Penn State Institutes of Energy and the Environment. We thank Glenna Malcolm and several anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments on an earlier draft of this article.
PY - 2013/4
Y1 - 2013/4
N2 - Using the Farm Energy Analysis Tool (FEAT), we compare energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the cultivation of different crops, highlight the role of sustainable management practices, and discuss the impact of soil nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions and the uncertainty associated with denitrification estimates in the northeastern United States. FEAT is a transparent, open-source model that allows users to choose parameter estimates from an evolving database. The results show that nitrogen fertilizer and N 2O emissions accounted for the majority of differences between crop energy use and GHG emissions, respectively. Integrating sustainable practices such as no tillage and a legume cover crop reduced energy use and GHG emissions from corn production by 37% and 42%, respectively. Our comparisons of diverse crops and management practices illustrate important trade-offs and can inform decisions about agriculture. We also compared methods of estimating N 2O emissions and suggest additional research on this potent GHG.
AB - Using the Farm Energy Analysis Tool (FEAT), we compare energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the cultivation of different crops, highlight the role of sustainable management practices, and discuss the impact of soil nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions and the uncertainty associated with denitrification estimates in the northeastern United States. FEAT is a transparent, open-source model that allows users to choose parameter estimates from an evolving database. The results show that nitrogen fertilizer and N 2O emissions accounted for the majority of differences between crop energy use and GHG emissions, respectively. Integrating sustainable practices such as no tillage and a legume cover crop reduced energy use and GHG emissions from corn production by 37% and 42%, respectively. Our comparisons of diverse crops and management practices illustrate important trade-offs and can inform decisions about agriculture. We also compared methods of estimating N 2O emissions and suggest additional research on this potent GHG.
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U2 - 10.1525/bio.2013.63.4.6
DO - 10.1525/bio.2013.63.4.6
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84876562981
SN - 0006-3568
VL - 63
SP - 263
EP - 273
JO - BioScience
JF - BioScience
IS - 4
ER -