Agriculture, Land Use and the Path to Net Zero

It’s been suggested that farming contributes to around 12% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, with land use associated with agriculture (such as deforestation to clear land for crop production) increasing this overall share to 25% of global GHG emissions. As the climate change emergency continues to threaten global food production and security, there is a growing need to modify or relocate existing farming systems to reduce their environmental impact and ensure a safe, sustainable and sufficient supply of food.

Agriculture, land use and the path to net zero provides a comprehensive overview of the role of agriculture in contributing to GHG emissions, including the role of farming in generating different GHGs and how these can be reduced. It also assesses ways agricultural land use can be used to offset emissions through different carbon sequestration strategies (whether through changing farming practices or restoring landscapes to optimise carbon storage). The book then reviews the challenges and opportunities faced by different regions in developing appropriate land use strategies for agriculture to achieve the goal of net zero.

Dr Robert M. Rees is an Emeritus Professor in Agriculture and Climate Change and former Head of the Carbon Management Centre at Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), UK. With over 200 published papers, Professor Rees is internationally renowned for his research on soil carbon sequestration, agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation, nutrient cycling and ways agriculture can adapt to climate change.

Dr Jørgen E. Olesen is Professor in Climate Change and Agriculture and Head of the Department of Agroecology at Aarhus University, Denmark. He is also an Adjunct Professor at both China Agricultural University and Gansu Agricultural University, China. He is internationally recognised for his research on the effects of agriculture on the environment and how environmental change affects agroecosystems.

Dr Sylvia Vetter is an Advanced Research Fellow in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Aberdeen, UK and is a member of the School’s Environmental Modelling Group. She is noted for her research focusing on modelling GHG emissions from agriculture and the potential effectiveness of different mitigation options. Dr Vetter was involved in developing the Cool Farm Tool, one of the leading carbon calculation tools used by UK farmers in particular. She was previously Chair of Meteorology at the Technical University of Dresden, Germany.