Agriculture's largest store of carbon is in soils, where carbon from dead plants has accumulated over the centuries. Cultivation of the soil has greatly affected this store of carbon, reducing it by 15 - 35% since agricultural land was first cultivated. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's research program has confirmed that, during the last decade, farmers using more sustainable practices have been able to slow down soil carbon loss and, in some cases, store carbon back in the soil. The onset of climate change, however, could counteract this trend.

Map 9 larger image [GIF, 68.8 kb, 765 X 518, notice]

The Century Model (a computer simulation of the dynamics of soil organic matter) was used to estimate the rate of change of carbon in Canadian soils for the year 1990. Soil crop coverage, tillage, and crop rotation data were used in the model. Map 9 shows the calculated rate of carbon loss from agricultural soils for the Prairies for the year 1990. The carbon loss on this map represents about 93% of the carbon loss from agricultural soils in Canada.

Contact:

Ward Smith and Ray Desjardins
Eastern Cereal and Oilseed
Research Centre
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
960 Carling Avenue,
Ottawa, ON
K1A 0C6
613-759-1522
Email: desjardins@em.agr.ca