climate change

Poorly drained agricultural soils emit enough of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide that the resulting climate change effects could far exceed the benefits of using the same soils as a means of sequestering carbon, according to a recently published scientific study.

The study, published Monday in the academic journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that a range of agricultural soils produce nitrous oxide emissions in quantities big enough to contribute to climate change. The researchers compared soils with various moisture content and found agricultural soils are capable of high nitrous oxide emissions across a wide range of environmental conditions.

Over the past few decades, Iowa’s agriculture has experienced a period of consistently high yields. The perfect distribution and timing of humidity, rainfall and heat have led to bumper crops of corn and soybeans. This “Goldilocks” period is partly due to global warming, but experts believe farmers shouldn’t expect it to last.

In an article from Physics Today’s February issue, “Iowa’s agriculture is losing its Goldilocks climate,” scientists Eugene Takle and William Gutowski describe the challenges farmers could expect to see to maintaining high yields if global warming continues along predicted trends.

Outside of Walnut Grove, Minnesota, a contributing author to a Nobel Peace Prize winning project was born in a farm house with no electricity or indoor plumbing. Eugene (Gene) Takle always intended to go back to the farm, but the young man who opted for agriculture classes and never took biology wound up getting his Ph.D. in physics.

Following Sputnik and the space race of the late 50s, the United States focused on science education for youth. It was an English teacher who set Takle on a scientific path. 

“My family did not subscribe to newspapers or news magazines,” said Takle. “My English teacher showed me a copy of Newsweek and gave me one of the cards from inside. I subscribed and actually read the thing every week for years.”