Farming System最新文献

{"title":"Biochar alters soil aggregate organic carbon component distribution and stability under nitrogen fertilization","authors":"Jun Zhang,&nbsp;Da Dong,&nbsp;Junjian Wang,&nbsp;Lukas Van Zwieten,&nbsp;Cheng Li,&nbsp;Yulin Zhang,&nbsp;Yuping Lu,&nbsp;Xin Chen,&nbsp;Xiaofei Li,&nbsp;Weixiang Wu,&nbsp;Dongyang Li,&nbsp;Fengchang Wu,&nbsp;Jun Meng,&nbsp;Wenfu Chen,&nbsp;Hailong Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.farsys.2026.100261","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.farsys.2026.100261","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Biochar application to soil can increase carbon sequestration; however, the long-term mechanisms through which different feedstocks and nitrogen (N) fertilization jointly regulate the distribution and stability of soil organic carbon components within aggregates remain unclear. We used a 12-year paddy field experiment in Yuhang County, Zhejiang Province, China, to compare rice straw and bamboo biochars with and without N fertilization, evaluating black carbon (BC, the refractory polycyclic aromatic carbon fraction derived from biochar) and dissolved black carbon (DBC) content, and aromaticity across aggregate size classes. Rice straw biochar preferentially accumulated in microaggregates (0.053−0.25 mm), increasing BC amount by 181−189%, while bamboo biochar predominantly enriched macroaggregates (0.25−2 mm), enhancing BC storage by 683−729% and significantly increasing BC aromatic condensation (B6CA/B5CA_BC increased by 19−22%) relative to the control. Although total DBC concentrations did not change significantly, biochar application enriched the condensed aromatic structures of DBC. Annual N fertilization reduced the aromatic condensation of BC and DBC, with stronger effects under rice straw biochar amendment. Structural equation modeling suggested that black carbon (BC) accumulation closely covaried with the bulk soil organic carbon (SOC) pool, highlighting the importance of its physical integration and physical protection within the broader organic matrix. Conversely, DBC retention was governed by the interaction of dissolved organic matter (DOM) components and metal oxides. ​Our results emphasize that biochar characteristics determine its geochemical fate and stabilization pathways within soil aggregates, and that physical preservation of highly aromatic biochar within aggregates is crucial for achieving long-term carbon sequestration. We reveal that N fertilization can compromise aromatic stability, exposing a critical trade-off between maximizing crop productivity and maintaining long-term soil carbon sinks in biochar-amended paddy systems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100522,"journal":{"name":"Farming System","volume":"4 4","pages":"Article 100261"},"PeriodicalIF":9.3,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149140640","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Nitrogen at the nexus of food, energy and soil security","authors":"Budiman Minasny,&nbsp;Damien J. Field,&nbsp;Maurício Roberto Cherubin,&nbsp;A. Stuart Grandy,&nbsp;Jagdish K. Ladha,&nbsp;Alex B. McBratney,&nbsp;Wartini Ng,&nbsp;Raj Setia,&nbsp;Peng Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.farsys.2026.100277","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.farsys.2026.100277","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Global food production relies heavily on fossil-energy-derived nitrogen (N) fertiliser, creating a structural vulnerability to energy and geopolitical shocks. Disruptions rapidly raise fertiliser costs, threaten food production, and disproportionately affect smallholders and import-dependent countries. This paper argues that nitrogen is no longer only an agronomic input or an emissions problem, but a strategic vulnerability at the intersection of food, energy, and soil security. We review what is established in nitrogen science, where uncertainties remain, and why technical knowledge has not translated into enduring improvements in nitrogen productivity. We then propose a leverage-based research and policy agenda: buffering current systems against shocks, improving nitrogen flows within existing production systems, changing feedbacks and incentives, restructuring nutrient and energy pathways, and ultimately redefining agricultural goals around sustained production under lower fossil nitrogen dependence. The central task is not simply to maximise nitrogen-use efficiency, but to build food systems that maintain yield and profitability, reduce exposure to fossil-energy and fertiliser-market shocks, and protect the soil nutrient capital on which long-term productivity depends. Reframing N this way shifts the agenda from isolated technical fixes to coordinated changes in agronomy, breeding, soil biogeochemistry, infrastructure, markets, and policy.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100522,"journal":{"name":"Farming System","volume":"4 4","pages":"Article 100277"},"PeriodicalIF":9.3,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149140646","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Mapping of residual soil nitrate in a diversified cropping system using multi-source sensing data and stacked ensemble learning","authors":"Md Tawhid Hossain,&nbsp;Santiago Tamagno,&nbsp;Sonoko D. Bellingrath-Kimura,&nbsp;Kathrin Grahmann","doi":"10.1016/j.farsys.2026.100263","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.farsys.2026.100263","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Spatial mapping of residual soil nitrate (NO₃⁻) after harvest is essential for targeted nitrogen (N) management and reducing leaching risk. Specifically, predicting NO₃⁻ in spatially diversified cropping systems is challenging because soil properties, crop types, and fertilization rates vary between adjacent crops. This study tested a stacked ensemble machine learning model to predict crop-scale post-harvest NO₃⁻ of the topsoil (0-30 cm) in a diversified patch cropping system in Brandenburg, Germany. Five years of data (2020–2024) from 30 patches and 9 different crops were used. The framework integrated data on volumetric soil moisture, precipitation, Sentinel-2 vegetation indices, and N management variables aggregated over temporal windows from 1 to 90 days before harvest. The stacked ensemble of Random Forest and XGBoost achieved the highest performance for the 90-day window (RMSE = 11.5 NO₃-N kg ha⁻¹, MAE = 9.0 NO₃-N kg ha⁻¹, R² = 0.61), outperforming both base learners individually. The feature importance analysis (SHAP) identified cumulative precipitation and NDVI as the dominant predictors. Predicted responses showed increased residual NO₃⁻ under low precipitation (&lt;150 mm) and high N fertilizer rates (&gt;150 kg N ha⁻¹), whereas NO₃⁻ declined with high NDVI averages above 0.55. The five-year dataset captured both a persistent texture-driven spatial gradient in residual NO₃⁻ and a drought-related reversal in 2022, when sandy low-yielding patches exhibited unusually high post-harvest NO₃⁻ under exceptionally dry pre-harvest conditions. These results demonstrate that a multi-source machine learning approach can identify relative post-harvest NO₃⁻ hotspots in patch cropping systems with contrasting crop phenologies and management conditions. The framework provides a locally calibratable template for targeted N monitoring in spatially heterogeneous diversified cropping systems under comparable climate with the availability of soil, local weather, crop, and management data.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100522,"journal":{"name":"Farming System","volume":"4 4","pages":"Article 100263"},"PeriodicalIF":9.3,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149140607","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Sugarcane-peanut intercropping promotes crop health by recruiting beneficial bacteria, enhancing soil and crop productivity","authors":"Nyumah Fallah,&nbsp;Yongmei Zhou,&nbsp;Jiapan Lian,&nbsp;Wenxiong Lin,&nbsp;Ronghua Tang,&nbsp;Peiwu Li,&nbsp;Zhaonian Yuan,&nbsp;Ziqin Pang","doi":"10.1016/j.farsys.2026.100220","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.farsys.2026.100220","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Sugarcane–peanut intercropping is widely practiced to improve agricultural sustainability, yet how this farming system impacts sugarcane crop health and boosts soil and crop productivity remains unclear. To address this knowledge gap, we investigated how such a farming system influences soil physicochemical properties, sugarcane growth, disease incidence, and bacterial communities across different growth stages and locations. A randomized block design field trial with sugarcane monoculture and wide-row sugarcane–peanut intercropping was established across two locations. Bacterial communities were characterized in rhizosphere and bulk soils using 16S high-throughput sequencing. Sugarcane-peanut intercropping significantly enhanced land-use efficiency (Land Equivalent Ratio (LER) increased from 1.00 to 1.42 at Site A and to 1.21 at Site B). Moreover, stem diameter increased significantly in the intercropping plots by 8.43% and 9.51% compared with monoculture across Site A and Site B, respectively. Single-stem weight increased significantly under the sugarcane–peanut intercropping at Site B compared to Site A. The number of effective stems per hectare decreased significantly by 14.99% and 30.36% in the intercropping plots at Site B. Alkali-hydrolyzable nitrogen, available phosphorus, and exchangeable potassium were significantly higher in intercropping fields compared with monoculture rhizosphere and bulk soils at both sites during the sugarcane maturity stage. Notably, key plant growth- and stress-regulating bacterial (PGSRB), including <em>Stenotrophomonas,</em> enriched significantly in the intercropping rhizosphere soil at Site A, while <em>Burkholderia-Caballeronia-Paraburkholderia, Azospirillum,</em> and <em>Rhizobiaceae</em> exhibited a similar phenomenon in the intercropping bulk soil during the elongation stage. Similarly, <em>Burkholderia-Caballeronia-Paraburkholderia</em>, <em>Mesorhizobium, Bradyrhizobium,</em> and <em>Bacillus</em> were enriched significantly in the intercropping rhizosphere and bulk soils during the maturity stage. The recruitment and proliferation of these PGSRB were associated with the suppression of red stripe disease across both sites. Taken together, these findings suggest that this farming system is an eco-friendly approach that supports crop health and boosts soil and crop productivity.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100522,"journal":{"name":"Farming System","volume":"4 4","pages":"Article 100220"},"PeriodicalIF":9.3,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149140648","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Biochar for soil and wastewater remediation: Heavy metals, organic–inorganic contaminants, and circular economy–driven sustainable agriculture","authors":"Khuram Shehzad Khan,&nbsp;Tajwar Alam,&nbsp;Abdul Waheed,&nbsp;Rizwan Azim,&nbsp;Muhammad Ahsan Asghar,&nbsp;Jairo A. Palta,&nbsp;Lingling Li,&nbsp;Taqi Raza,&nbsp;Muhammad Farhan Qadir,&nbsp;Rabia Manzoor","doi":"10.1016/j.farsys.2026.100214","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.farsys.2026.100214","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Organic, inorganic, and microbial contaminants in soil and wastewater pose critical risks to human health, agricultural productivity, and environmental sustainability. Heavy metals (HMs) such as Cd, Pb, Ni, and Cr are of particular concern due to their non-degradable nature, long-term mobility, and ability to bioaccumulate in food chains. Conventional remediation techniques, including membrane filtration, chemical precipitation, and electrochemical treatments, are often costly, energy-intensive, and less effective for large-scale or mixed-pollutant systems. In this context, biochar has emerged as a multifunctional, carbon-rich material with physicochemical properties that support the immobilization, adsorption, and degradation of a wide range of contaminants. This review provides an integrative, mechanism-driven assessment of biochar-based remediation that goes beyond descriptive summaries. Specifically, it (1) links biochar production methods and physicochemical properties to contaminant-specific removal efficiencies across soil and wastewater systems; (2) critically analyzes direct and indirect HM adsorption mechanisms, emphasizing their interactions with soil biogeochemical processes and long-term stability; (3) synthesizes emerging evidence on biochar–plant defense crosstalk, demonstrating how reduced metal bioavailability modulates reactive oxygen species (ROS), membrane integrity, and antioxidant responses under stress conditions; and (4) evaluates biochar within a circular economy framework by integrating waste valorization, energy recovery, environmental trade-offs, and techno-economic feasibility. By coupling mechanistic insights with system-level analysis, this review identifies the key knowledge gaps related to biochar aging, contaminant remobilization, and field-scale validation, and guides developing resilient soil–plant–water remediation strategies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100522,"journal":{"name":"Farming System","volume":"4 3","pages":"Article 100214"},"PeriodicalIF":9.3,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148523801","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Typology-based evaluation of Nutrient Expert® for sustainable maize intensification in smallholder farms of eastern India","authors":"Rupak Goswami ,&nbsp;Sudarshan Dutta ,&nbsp;Hirak Banerjee ,&nbsp;Somsubhra Chakraborty ,&nbsp;Krishnendu Ray ,&nbsp;Kaushik Majumdar ,&nbsp;Jagadish Timsina","doi":"10.1016/j.farsys.2025.100193","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.farsys.2025.100193","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Smallholder maize systems in South Asia face challenges of low productivity, inefficient fertilizer use, and rising environmental footprints. Decision-support tools (DST) such as Nutrient Expert® (NE®), built on 4R nutrient stewardship principles, offer promise for achieving sustainable intensification (SI), yet their performance across diverse farm types remains poorly understood. This study assessed NE®-guided fertilization against farmer fertilizer practices (FFP) across 112 farms in four agro-climatic zones of southern West Bengal, India. Farm typologies were delineated using principal component and cluster analysis, resulting in seven distinct farm types (FT) reflecting socio-economic and biophysical heterogeneity. Paired on-farm trials compared NE® and FFP for multiple indicators, including yield, economics, energy use, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Results show that NE® reduced N, P, and K use by 66 %, 93 %, and 56 %, respectively, while increasing yields across all farm types, with the highest gains in FT-4 (71.1 %), FT-2 (63.0 %), and FT-7 (60.3 %). Gross return above fertilizer cost (GRF) improved in nearly all cases, with FT-2 achieving a 90 % gain. Energy productivity and net energy gain increased in most farm types, while yield-scaled GHG emissions declined in 88.4 % of farms. However, benefits were uneven: FT-3 and FT-5, constrained by setting higher yield targets, coupled with poor resource endowment and weak yield response, showed limited improvements. Thin-plate spline regression further identified farm-type–specific sustainability frontiers, indicating untapped potential for SI beyond current NE® yield targets. Overall, the findings demonstrate the utility of NE® in tailoring realistic yield targets for DST and nutrient management across heterogeneous farm systems, while also highlighting the importance of typology-based scaling strategies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100522,"journal":{"name":"Farming System","volume":"4 2","pages":"Article 100193"},"PeriodicalIF":8.4,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146025716","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Straw return facilitates the availability of soil nitrogen by altering the metabolic distribution and nitrogen cycling processes","authors":"Yu Gao ,&nbsp;Lu Wang ,&nbsp;Mingyue Li ,&nbsp;Yunpeng Qiu ,&nbsp;Qiulai Song ,&nbsp;Tianjiao Ji ,&nbsp;Zhenping Gong ,&nbsp;Chunmei Ma ,&nbsp;Chao Yan","doi":"10.1016/j.farsys.2025.100192","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.farsys.2025.100192","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Straw return (SR) has been extensively utilized to enhance soil organic carbon (SOC) levels and soil fertility in agroecosystems. However, the impact of SR on soil nitrogen (N) dynamics, microbial communities, metabolic processes, and the underlying mechanisms remains largely unexplored. Through a multi-year manipulation of SR under continuous corn cropping (CC) and fallow (FR), we demonstrate that SR promotes N availability by altering soil microbial metabolism. Moreover, SR facilitated N turnover by enhancing metabolic pathways, including arginine biosynthesis, alanine, aspartate, and glutamate metabolism, as well as glycine, serine, and threonine metabolism, and pyrimidine and purine metabolism. Additionally, SR resulted in a significant increase in the abundance of microorganisms and functional genes involved in mineralization (<em>glsA</em> and <em>ureC</em>), N fixation (<em>Bradyrhizobium</em>, <em>Altererythrobacter</em>), dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA, <em>Sorangium</em>, <em>napC</em>, and <em>nirB</em>), and assimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (ANRA, <em>nasA</em>). However, despite a reduction in the relative abundance of nitrification microbes and functional genes (e.g., <em>Nitrososphaerag</em>, <em>Nitrospira</em>, <em>Sphingomonas</em>, <em>amoAB</em>, <em>nxrA</em>), SR enhanced the content of extractable inorganic N and organic N in the soil. Therefore, SR represents an effective strategy to promote N dynamics and accelerate the restoration of soil fertility. Our results demonstrated that SR alters N cycling processes by modifying microbial community structure and metabolite distribution, thereby increasing soil N availability.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100522,"journal":{"name":"Farming System","volume":"4 2","pages":"Article 100192"},"PeriodicalIF":8.4,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146025688","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Long-term green manuring reduces net greenhouse gas emissions in upland cropping systems in China","authors":"Penghui Li ,&nbsp;Hao Liang ,&nbsp;Qiu Zhao ,&nbsp;Jiudong Zhang ,&nbsp;Libo Fu ,&nbsp;Dabin Zhang ,&nbsp;Mei Han ,&nbsp;Rui Zhang ,&nbsp;Na Zhao ,&nbsp;Weidong Cao ,&nbsp;Feng Zhou","doi":"10.1016/j.farsys.2025.100191","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.farsys.2025.100191","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Green manuring enhances multiple agroecosystem services functions, yet its impact on net greenhouse gas mitigation remains controversial, primarily due to a limited number of long-term experiments. To address these challenges, this study investigated the long-term effects of green manure (GM) rotations on 100-cm-depth soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration, N₂O emissions, and crop yields based on eight long-term experimental sites (7–16 years) in China's upland cropping systems combined with process-based modeling. The results demonstrated that green manuring significantly increased SOC concentration by 8.8 %–14.4 % (<em>p</em> &lt; 0.001) across 0–100 cm soil profiles compared to fallow system, with annual SOC sequestration rates reaching 0.95–1.16 Mg C ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ (<em>p</em> &lt; 0.001). Notably, topsoil layer (0–40 cm) contributed 67.5 % of total profile SOC accumulation. Green manuring can replace approximately 40 % of synthetic fertilizers of N while maintaining long-term yield stability, though with potential trade-offs in elevated N₂O emissions. The optimal net global warming potential (NGWP) reached −16.47 Mg CO₂-eq ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ under GM-based system with 30 % reduction in fertilizer N. Meanwhile, under the condition that GM substitution for fertilizer N achieved no yield reduction, the greenhouse gas intensity (GHGI) was optimized within the substitution rate range of 20 %–40 %. The results from process-based modeling demonstrate that substituting 30 % of N fertilizer with GM achieves optimal soil C sequestration while maintaining stable crop yields. These findings provide direct evidence that GM rotation increases C sequestration, addressing previous knowledge gaps in understanding the C sequestration and emission reduction effects of GM-based rotation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100522,"journal":{"name":"Farming System","volume":"4 2","pages":"Article 100191"},"PeriodicalIF":8.4,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146025687","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Integrating regenerative and climate-smart agriculture for resilient farming systems","authors":"Yuantong Jia ,&nbsp;Ram C. Dalal ,&nbsp;Tong Li ,&nbsp;Yash P. Dang","doi":"10.1016/j.farsys.2026.100216","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.farsys.2026.100216","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":100522,"journal":{"name":"Farming System","volume":"4 2","pages":"Article 100216"},"PeriodicalIF":8.4,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147600266","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"From soil carbon towards system sustainability: Integrating SOC modelling and life cycle assessment to evaluate environmental trade-offs in carbon farming","authors":"Stefano Spotorno ,&nbsp;Anne Gobin ,&nbsp;Diego Armando Arellano Vazquez ,&nbsp;Erica Gagliano ,&nbsp;Adriana Del Borghi ,&nbsp;Michela Gallo","doi":"10.1016/j.farsys.2025.100195","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.farsys.2025.100195","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The European Union (EU) is committed to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to the atmosphere and promoting sustainable soil and land management practices. Carbon Farming (CF) is a set of practices to mitigate climate change in agriculture through carbon sequestration in soils. While CF practices increase soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks, they are also expected to have environmental impacts and potential trade-offs. However, the environmental impact of CF practices is often overlooked, and a comprehensive evaluation using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology is required. The RothC model was used to simulate SOC dynamics under different CF practices on arable land in Northern Italy: reduced tillage (RT), farmyard manure (FYM) application, and cover crops (CC). LCA methodology was applied to quantify GHG emissions and other environmental impacts beyond carbon. The results confirmed that different soil management strategies can significantly affect SOC accumulation. FYM application sequesters the most carbon (4.89 t C ha⁻¹ over 20 years) due to exogenous carbon inputs. RT (1.34 t C ha⁻¹) and CC (1.73 t C ha⁻¹) also contribute to sequestration, but at lower rates. However, LCA results revealed significant trade-offs: while FYM maximizes carbon sequestration (0.90 t CO₂ ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹), it substantially increases acidification (+254 %), marine eutrophication (+372 %), terrestrial eutrophication (+243 %), and photochemical ozone formation (+290 %) compared to conventional agriculture. In contrast, CC and RT provide a balanced profile with moderate sequestration benefits (0.32 and 0.25 t CO₂ ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹, respectively) and reduced environmental impacts, with RT showing improvements across all acidification and eutrophication indicators. This research underlines the critical need for comprehensive system assessment of agricultural sustainability, as CF may place too much emphasis on carbon sequestration without fully considering other environmental impacts requiring mitigation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":100522,"journal":{"name":"Farming System","volume":"4 2","pages":"Article 100195"},"PeriodicalIF":8.4,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146025757","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}