Taghizadeh-Toosi et al. (2025): Potential of crop residues management for soil organic carbon sequestration in European countries until 2050: a simplified modelling approach
Arezoo Taghizadeh-Toosi, Svend Vendelbo Nielsen and Katarina Elofsson, IN: Soil Security, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soisec.2025.100221
Soil organic carbon (SOC) is a key component of soil organic matter, playing a vital role in soil fertility, health, biodiversity, and food production. Enhancing SOC in agricultural soils has been proposed as a strategy to mitigate climate change. Returning crop residues to the soil is a widely recognized approach to increase SOC, although residues can also be combusted for energy or processed via anaerobic digestion for biogas. This study evaluated the carbon sequestration potential of agricultural soils across 27 European countries using scenario analysis within a modeling framework. Various crop residue management strategies were considered alongside the impacts of rising temperatures. Simulations were performed with the process-based C-TOOL model, using input data from European databases on crop cultivation, soil properties, and climate.