Soil the unseen power player in climate change

University of Saskatchewan researchers are investigating soil emissions, soil properties, and how to measure them.

Climate change is not just about carbon.

As a climate change driver, to be sure, carbon dioxide (CO2) remains a large issue and a constant part of the conversation around reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

But particularly for an enormous country like Canada with vast tracts of land that grow food, a wider understanding of how soil health factors into the emissions equation—along with crop production and the economy—is crucial.

Gas emissions other than CO2, such as fertilizer-related nitrous oxide (N2O), have more recently hit the public radar. As recently as 2021, articles in both mainstream and scientific media called N2O “the world’s forgotten greenhouse gas.”

It may not have been the driver of public discourse, but it was not forgotten by the team of soil experts at the University of Saskatchewan (USask).

The team, which includes members of the College of Agriculture and Bioresources (AgBio) as well as the College of Engineering, and the Department of Computer Science in the College of Arts and Science, is bringing together and combining elements from emissions to microorganisms to computer modelling.

Traditionally, the focus of soil research was mainly on fertility, according to Dr. Richard Farrell (PhD), associate professor in the College of AgBio and Ministry of Agriculture Strategic Research Program Chair in Soil Biological Processes.

GHGs then began to come into research exploration with a strong focus on carbon dioxide emissions and sequestration.

Today, USask researchers are evaluating a much bigger picture including various environmental, economic, socioeconomic, and agronomic factors, he said.

Farrell’s own research is focused on greenhouse gas measurements and mitigation. He notes that air quality, water quality and soil quality are all tightly related.

“If soils are poorly managed, you can have runoff; you can have nitrates and phosphates moving into the water. Pollutants can move into the ground water if they’re not properly managed,” he gave as an example.

And when it comes to growing crops, carbon has more of an upside than nitrous oxide.

“Plant growth and crop development are taking carbon out of the atmosphere and pumping it into the soil, so we are sequestering it that way,” Farrell said.