AFBF: Farming Continues To Perform When It Comes To Carbon Sequestration

Data released by the EPA and analyzed by the American Farm Bureau Federation shows carbon sequestration efforts resulted in carbon removed from the atmosphere.

“During 2018, carbon sequestration efforts resulted in an increase in CO2 stocks, that means that’s carbon removed from the atmosphere of more than 760 million metric tons," said Farm Bureau Chief Economist John Newton. "So, when you take into consideration total emissions across the entire U.S. economy, our carbon sequestration efforts resulted in about a 12% reduction in emissions, that we were able to capture that carbon in the soil.”

Newton says there are five land-use categories for measuring carbon, with grassland and forestry leading the way. Newton said while the numbers are impressive, more investment is needed to research how agriculture can capture more carbon.

“When you look over the last 30 years, we’ve lost more than a million acres of cropland each year and that’s not sustainable. In order to capture more carbon in our soils we need to increase our investment in agricultural research to develop those frontier technologies that can help us capture even more carbon in the soils on our cropland, so we can not only meet the climate goals, but also to continue to feed, clothe and provide renewable fuels for the U.S. economy.”

Click Here to read the entire analysis by the Farm Bureau.

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