| Agricultural Management
Practices: Relative Carbon Gain and Potential USDA
Policy Actions |
| Management Practice |
Relative Carbon Gain
(per unit
area) |
Possible Policy Actions** |
| Cultivated Land |
|
|
| Adoption of reduced- or no-till |
M |
CS, E&TA, CC |
| Use of winter cover crops |
L |
CS, E&TA |
| Elimination of summer fallow |
M |
CS, E&TA |
| Use of forages in rotations |
M |
CS, E&TA |
| Use of manure and other organic fertilizers |
M |
CS, E&TA |
| Irrigation |
H |
CS |
| |
|
|
| Set-Aside Lands |
|
|
| Establish perennial grasses |
H |
CS, LR |
| Soil/water conservation measures |
H |
CS, E&TA, CC |
| Establish forest |
H |
CS, LR |
| Restore wetlands |
H |
CS |
| |
|
|
| Pastureland |
|
|
| Improved grazing methods |
M |
CS, E&TA |
| Fertilizer applications |
M |
CS, E&TA |
| Irrigation |
M |
CS |
| Source: Except for restoring
wetlands, assessments of relative carbon gain are
from Bruce et al. (1998). |
| * H = high, M = medium,
L = low |
| ** CS = cost share (paying
all or part of the costs of implementing the practice
-- cost could be defined to include lost income) |
| CC= conservation compliance
(requires land owner to participate in a market transition,
commodity support, or other government program with
economic benefits) |
| E&TA = education and
technical support (requires that the practice be profitable) |
| LR = land retirement (providing
payments, usually annual, for land to be put into
specific uses |
