Press release: Researchers summarise all studies on the impacts of arable farming practices on soil organic carbon

NEWS | 2015-12-04

MISTRA EviEM proudly announce the release of a systematic map on the impacts of agricultural management on soil organic carbon. The review identifies, collates and describes in detail all existing research on the effects of arable farming practices in boreal and temperate regions. The review highlights gaps in current knowledge, areas with high quality evidence, and key ways to improve research methods. The 735 studies included in the review are displayed on an easy-to-use interactive map.

This year is the FAO’s International Year of Soils, which aims to recognise the important roles that soils play in supporting healthy lifestyles across the world. Agricultural soils have the potential to store vast quantities of carbon, and may reduce global warming if managed correctly. A huge amount of research exists on the effects of farming practices on soil organic carbon, making it difficult to say with any accuracy what the overall impacts of farmland management may be. Now, a team of international researchers led by the independent research organisation MISTRA EviEM has painstakingly identified and collated all available research on how farming can affect storage of carbon in the soil across temperate and boreal ecosystems. This database of detailed descriptive information features several user-friendly interfaces that allow the user to identify gaps in our knowledge and clusters of high quality evidence, and it acts as a resource for those rapidly wanting to find relevant research from a particular location or subject area.

The carbon content of arable soil depends very much on how farming is conducted. Photo: Jan Håkan Dahlström/ Bildhuset/ IT.

Read more about the project and access the full report and a summary factsheet here.
Contact: Katarina Hedlund (katarina.hedlund@biol.lu.se)