Carbon Cycling and Sequestration in Conventional and Organic Cropping Systems

Agricultural soils may help decrease the threat of global warming by removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and using the carbon (C) in those gases to build soil organic matter in the process of carbon sequestration. Our research is investigating this mechanism in detail and is based on the following objectives:

1.      Quantify and compare the magnitudes and temporal changes of C and N pools and cycling processes in organic, transitional organic and conventional agricultural systems in research station farming system experiments.

2.      Quantify magnitudes of C and N pools in a geographic range of case study organic farms representative of long-term organic management.

3.      Quantify impacts of organic management practices on C and N dynamics at a landscape level using GIS, remote sensing and the CENTURY model.