Development of climate change mitigation strategies through carbon-smart agriculture

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

BACKGROUND

According to the European Environment Agency, agriculture both contributes to climate change and is affected by climate change. Therefore, the EU needs to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agriculture and to adapt its food production system to cope with climate change. The use of conservation agriculture increases the carbon sink in soils and reduces GHG emissions, namely carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrous oxide (N2O), by optimising the use of agricultural inputs and reducing the use of fossil fuels. In combination with precision agriculture, conservation agriculture practices can contribute to both mitigating climate change impacts and adapting farming to future climate scenarios.

OBJECTIVES

LIFE AGROMITIGA will promote a low-carbon agricultural system aimed at enhancing the mitigative capacity of soil as a carbon sink. The project will assess the impact of different conservation agriculture practices; and will quantify the mitigative capacity of soil management systems in the Mediterranean Basin (Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain), in both herbaceous and perennial crops. The project also aims to develop a method to calculate the carbon footprint at different crop cultivation stages, in line with international standards, and a tool to quantify the increase of carbon in soils due to better soil management practices. This will significantly improve knowledge about the carbon content of agricultural soils, and demonstrate that conservation agriculture can reduce GHG emissions in the Mediterranean Basin. Furthermore, the project will promote the implementation of soil management systems that mitigate climate change through training and awareness raising.

RESULTS

Development of an innovative protocol for the quantification of the carbon footprint of crops at different cultivation stages under different soil management systems;

Development of a methodology to allow the agricultural sector to access the carbon credit market;

Increased carbon sink in soils and reduced GHG emissions in the project area, providing a useful demonstration for international programmes;

Development of a tool to enable stakeholders to evaluate their practices regarding the carbon impact on soil. Soil carbon sink is expected to be increased by 1 Mg ha-1 yr-1 in both annual and permanent crops. Furthermore, the tool will enable evaluations of carbon generated in agriculture to offset emissions from other sectors;

Optimisation of the use of inputs in agriculture, thus resulting in lower emissions, energy savings and energy efficiency. It is expected to achieve energy savings (30%) by the implementation of crop rotation, to increase energy productivity by 50% and to reduce fuel consumption by 50%;

Increased implementation of conservation agriculture in the EU (estimated by 1 million ha); and

Improved knowledge on conservation agriculture, with more than 4 000 farmers and technicians trained.