the emissions will come from the processes involved in agriculture, not the actual growth. Non sustainable practices like clear cutting forests for agricultural use will cause a CO2 deficit much greater than the amount of CO2 absorbed by the crops, and will lead to soil degradation and desertification in some cases.
For the most part no. The major part of agriculture deals with plants. As any grade school science class will inform you that plants take in CO2.
Ag machinery uses fuel and thus produces CO2. More and more farmers are going to no-till precision agriculture, which decreases fuel use as well as improving the retention of carbon in the soil. Better soil management also improves yields.
As noted by several others, net CO2 emissions from agriculture can result from changes in carbon storage (such as clear-cutting a forest and replacing it with a much smaller crop, or releasing a lot of stored carbon in the soil), or from use of fossil-fuel-powered equipment to do the agriculture, such as tractors. If those tractors and the like could be powered by biodiesel or natural gas made from agricultural waste, then (barring carbon storage changes) agriculture could be neutral with respect to net CO2 emissions.
I am a biologist with more than 30 years professional experience.
I object to the characterising of carbon dioxide as a pollutant. It is an essential component of our atmosphere, without which there would be no life as we know it on our planet. No plants, therefore no food, also all the oxygen in our atmosphere comes as a by-product of photosynthesis. 2CO2 +2H2O → 2CH2O + 2O2. In English, Carbon dioxide plus water goes to carbohydrate plus oxygen.
Carbon dioxide concentration is the critical rate limiting factor in photosynthesis.
It is essential to plant growth, and at higher levels, plants grow bigger and stronger, are more resistant to disease and the damaging effects of pollution, and are more drought tolerant.
The science is well established. At less than 200ppm (parts per million) there is no photosynthesis at all. Above this figure, photosynthesis increases in line with atmospheric carbon dioxide levels up to 1000ppm, which is the optimum. At the present level of about 400ppm, we are comfortably above the minimum, but well below the optimum.
Commercial Glasshouse crop growers add CO2 to the atmosphere up to 1000ppm
For those who wish to check this out, a book has recently been published called ‘The Many Benefits of Atmospheric CO2 Enrichment’ by Isdo & Isdo. Each of the 55 examples given is backed by many references to peer reviewed papers in mainstream scientific journals.
The association of the word green with low levels of atmospheric CO2 contradicts the basics of plant physiology, and contrary to popular sentiment, more CO2, not less, makes for a greener world.
Fossil fuels are green energy because they produce an essential plant nutrient as a by-product of their combustion.
Global warming "scientists" create the most toxic gas. Don't breathe it in or it will make you a fool.
it yes what is the source of CO2 emission in agriculture ....
