How much carbon can agricultural and forestry practices sequester?
Carbon sequestration rates vary by tree species, soil type, regional climate, topography and management practice. In the U.S., fairly well-established values for carbon sequestration rates are available for most tree species. Soil carbon sequestration rates vary by soil type and cropping practice and are less well documented but information and research in this area is growing rapidly. Pine plantations in the Southeast can accumulate almost 100 metric tons of carbon per acre after 90 years, or roughly one metric ton of carbon per acre per year (Birdsey 1996). Changes in forest management (e.g., lengthening the harvest-regeneration cycle) generally result in less carbon sequestration on a per acre basis. Changes in cropping practices, such as from conventional to conservation tillage, have been shown to sequester about 0.1 – 0.3 metric tons of carbon per acre per year (Lal et al. 1999; West and Post 2002). However, a more comprehensive picture of the climate effects of these practices n
