Measuring and Modeling Soil Carbon Changes on Dutch Dairy Farms
Soil carbon sequestration is one of the pathways for the dairy sector to mitigate climate change. Soil carbon measures have been reviewed extensively, including estimates of their impacts on regional or national scales. Eventually, these measures are to be implemented by the farmers themselves, just...
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MDPI AG
2025-04-01
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| author | René Schils Colin Dekker Jouke Oenema Gerjan Hilhorst Jan-Paul Wagenaar Koos Verloop |
| author_facet | René Schils Colin Dekker Jouke Oenema Gerjan Hilhorst Jan-Paul Wagenaar Koos Verloop |
| author_sort | René Schils |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Soil carbon sequestration is one of the pathways for the dairy sector to mitigate climate change. Soil carbon measures have been reviewed extensively, including estimates of their impacts on regional or national scales. Eventually, these measures are to be implemented by the farmers themselves, justifying an assessment at farm and field level. Here, we used soil and management data from 96 fields on nine dairy farms to quantify annual stock changes under current management and the effect of several carbon measures on soil carbon sequestration in relation to farm configurations. The fields were in use as permanent grassland or grass-arable rotation with forage maize or other crops. We compared the observed changes in the soil layer of 0–25 cm with the RothC simulated changes, and we also simulated the effect of carbon measures on soil carbon stocks. We found a moderate (R<sup>2</sup> = 0.30) relation between simulated and measured soil carbon changes. Factors that contribute to the uncertainties are the estimates of field-specific carbon inputs from crop residues and manures, especially for farms that temporarily exchange land with other farmers. The current standard agronomic soil sampling program is unable to reliably detect soil carbon changes at a farm or field level. The annual changes in simulated soil carbon were negatively related to the initials carbon stocks, which has important implications for the potential of additional carbon storage. Therefore, we propose an indicator that expresses the current soil carbon stock in relation to the location-specific maximal achievable carbon stock for permanent grassland that receives an equivalent of 170 kg nitrogen per ha per year from animal manure. This can be used to compare farms and indicate whether a farmer’s focus should be on additional carbon storage or the protection of existing stocks. The simulation of carbon measures showed that the proportion of grassland is key in soil carbon storage. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-fe34b93aa336460cb8eeacc5be62c27e |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2073-445X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-04-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Land |
| spelling | doaj-art-fe34b93aa336460cb8eeacc5be62c27e2025-08-20T03:13:55ZengMDPI AGLand2073-445X2025-04-0114487410.3390/land14040874Measuring and Modeling Soil Carbon Changes on Dutch Dairy FarmsRené Schils0Colin Dekker1Jouke Oenema2Gerjan Hilhorst3Jan-Paul Wagenaar4Koos Verloop5Wageningen Plant Research, Droevendaalsesteeg 1, 6708 PB Wageningen, The NetherlandsWageningen Plant Research, Droevendaalsesteeg 1, 6708 PB Wageningen, The NetherlandsWageningen Plant Research, Droevendaalsesteeg 1, 6708 PB Wageningen, The NetherlandsAgro-Innovation Centre De Marke, Roessinkweg 2, 7255 PC Hengelo, The NetherlandsLouis Bolk Institute, Kosterijland 3-5, 3981 AJ Bunnik, The NetherlandsWageningen Plant Research, Droevendaalsesteeg 1, 6708 PB Wageningen, The NetherlandsSoil carbon sequestration is one of the pathways for the dairy sector to mitigate climate change. Soil carbon measures have been reviewed extensively, including estimates of their impacts on regional or national scales. Eventually, these measures are to be implemented by the farmers themselves, justifying an assessment at farm and field level. Here, we used soil and management data from 96 fields on nine dairy farms to quantify annual stock changes under current management and the effect of several carbon measures on soil carbon sequestration in relation to farm configurations. The fields were in use as permanent grassland or grass-arable rotation with forage maize or other crops. We compared the observed changes in the soil layer of 0–25 cm with the RothC simulated changes, and we also simulated the effect of carbon measures on soil carbon stocks. We found a moderate (R<sup>2</sup> = 0.30) relation between simulated and measured soil carbon changes. Factors that contribute to the uncertainties are the estimates of field-specific carbon inputs from crop residues and manures, especially for farms that temporarily exchange land with other farmers. The current standard agronomic soil sampling program is unable to reliably detect soil carbon changes at a farm or field level. The annual changes in simulated soil carbon were negatively related to the initials carbon stocks, which has important implications for the potential of additional carbon storage. Therefore, we propose an indicator that expresses the current soil carbon stock in relation to the location-specific maximal achievable carbon stock for permanent grassland that receives an equivalent of 170 kg nitrogen per ha per year from animal manure. This can be used to compare farms and indicate whether a farmer’s focus should be on additional carbon storage or the protection of existing stocks. The simulation of carbon measures showed that the proportion of grassland is key in soil carbon storage.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/4/874carbon sequestrationmodelinggrasslandforage maizemitigation |
| spellingShingle | René Schils Colin Dekker Jouke Oenema Gerjan Hilhorst Jan-Paul Wagenaar Koos Verloop Measuring and Modeling Soil Carbon Changes on Dutch Dairy Farms Land carbon sequestration modeling grassland forage maize mitigation |
| title | Measuring and Modeling Soil Carbon Changes on Dutch Dairy Farms |
| title_full | Measuring and Modeling Soil Carbon Changes on Dutch Dairy Farms |
| title_fullStr | Measuring and Modeling Soil Carbon Changes on Dutch Dairy Farms |
| title_full_unstemmed | Measuring and Modeling Soil Carbon Changes on Dutch Dairy Farms |
| title_short | Measuring and Modeling Soil Carbon Changes on Dutch Dairy Farms |
| title_sort | measuring and modeling soil carbon changes on dutch dairy farms |
| topic | carbon sequestration modeling grassland forage maize mitigation |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/4/874 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT reneschils measuringandmodelingsoilcarbonchangesondutchdairyfarms AT colindekker measuringandmodelingsoilcarbonchangesondutchdairyfarms AT joukeoenema measuringandmodelingsoilcarbonchangesondutchdairyfarms AT gerjanhilhorst measuringandmodelingsoilcarbonchangesondutchdairyfarms AT janpaulwagenaar measuringandmodelingsoilcarbonchangesondutchdairyfarms AT koosverloop measuringandmodelingsoilcarbonchangesondutchdairyfarms |