Assessing long-term impacts of increased crop productivity on atmospheric CO2

By considering long-term soil carbon changes and fossil fuel energy inputs, the authors show that increased crop productivity will alleviate CO₂ release to the atmosphere primarily by preventing additional land cultivation. Each hectare of cropland undergoing a simulated threefold crop productivity increase here prevents a net release on the order of 150-200 Mg C to the atmosphere over 100 yr by avoiding additional land cultivation which would otherwise be required. This effective carbon sink would slowly diminish with time due to fossil fuel energy input requirements. By avoiding land cultivation, high yield crop systems also preserve natural ecosystems. -from Authors