Statement Presented to the

Senate Subcommittee on Production and Price Competitiveness

of the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

May 4, 2000

Presented by

Richard E. Stuckey, Ph.D.

CAST Executive Vice President

On behalf of

The Council for Agricultural Science and Technology

Ames, Iowa

Thank you Mr. Chairman and Members of the Senate Subcommittee on Production and Price Competitiveness of the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. I am Richard E. Stuckey, Executive Vice President of the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST). CAST's mission is to identify and interpret scientific research information for legislators, regulators, the media and others involved in policy making. CAST is an organization that represents 38 professional scientific societies whose individual members exceed 180,000 scientists.

I am pleased to be invited to testify on behalf of CAST on agriculture's role in carbon cycling and mitigating greenhouse gases. Because it is not possible for any one person to reflect the multifaceted views of all CAST members on this particular topic, I do, however, believe I speak for a large majority of our membership. The CAST Executive Committee endorses my testimony.

CAST has addressed various aspects of agricultural and climatic change on previous occasions. Many of you will recall the 1992 CAST report entitled Preparing U.S. Agriculture for Climate Change that was prepared for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. In December 1998, CAST cohosted, with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a workshop on Carbon Sequestration in Soils: Science, Monitoring, and Beyond at St. Michaels, MD. CAST subsequently produced an issue paper summarizing the workshop discussion of the St. Michaels' meeting, and it is attached to my submitted written testimony. CAST has identified a new task force that will be meeting next week to begin work on a new report, tentatively titled "Agriculture's Response to the Climate Change Challenge."

The St. Michaels' workshop was attended by nearly 100 invited persons, mostly from the United States and Canada, representing the White House, regulators, congressional staff, plant and equipment industries, federal agencies and laboratories, consumer groups, growers and grower associations, university scientists, national and international organizations. The 3-day workshop addressed four areas: (1) science needs and new technology for soil carbon sequestration; (2) monitoring and verifying soil organic carbon sequestration; (3) desertification control to sequester carbon (C) and mitigate the greenhouse effect; and (4) soil carbon: policy and economics.

Findings of the St. Michaels' workshop that were reported in the CAST issue paper include the acknowledgment that organic matter contributes greatly to plant productivity and ecosystem stability. Soil organic matter plays a central role in the global carbon cycle. Soils can act as a sink or as a source of carbon. Land management is a critical component of whether the net change in the soil C is a gain or a loss. Agricultural practices that conserve soil and increase productivity while improving soil quality also increase the C content in soils, thereby removing CO2 from the atmosphere. There is excellent potential for C sequestration in all managed soils, and in some cases, the sequestration may be able to restore more than two-thirds of the C lost from conversion to agriculture and perhaps exceed original C contents in some soils and regions. This restoration of C needs to involve a search for ways to cause greater, more rapid, and longer-lasting sequestration. Promising lines of research are evolving that could lead to an improved understanding of soil C dynamics and the subsequent development of superior C sequestration methods. Among these are understanding the mechanisms of C stabilization, landscape effects on C sequestration, biotechnology to enhance plant productivity and favor C sequestration, and a better understanding of the environmental effects of soil C sequestration on erosion, nutrient leaching, and emissions of other greenhouse gases.

Rapid and accurate monitoring and verification systems are a limitation at present. However, we do have the technology to accurately measure carbon changes in soil. Improved and more cost-effective methods of monitoring changes in soil C likely will come from geographical information systems (GIS) and modeling, application of high-resolution remote sensing, and continuous direct measurements of CO2 exchange between the atmosphere and terrestrial ecosystems. It will take a combination of instrumentation to effectively monitor and verify results, ranging from direct in-field carbon-probes to verifiable simulation model extrapolation using high resolution remote sensing and GIS to aggregate larger regional areas with time.

On April 6 and 7, I participated in the first of a three-part series of workshops entitled "Global Climate Change Issues for Agriculture." These series of workshops are sponsored by the United States Department of Agriculture, facilitated by the Meridian Institute, and the first was hosted at the American Farm Bureau Offices in Washington, DC. These workshops are comprised primarily of scientists sharing their knowledge of global climate issues with grower and farm organizations. Representatives from federal agencies, congressional staff, The White House, and other interested parties are observers to the roundtable discussions. I commend the USDA for sponsoring these workshops and, in particular, the many and diverse farm organizations that attend to learn, discuss, and share their views on the impacts that various actions will have on the agriculture sector. The farm community has many legitimate concerns: Is global warming real? Does agriculture contribute and, if so, how much? Can agriculture be a solution? How will this affect agriculture's business? What are the implications of temperature and moisture shifts? Mr. Chairman, agriculture does contribute to the problem of greenhouse gas emissions. The public too often perceives agriculture only as a problem, not as a solution to mitigating greenhouse gases. Today, agriculture, through the use of best management practices contributes substantially to C sequestration in soil. The sequestration of carbon in soils enhances soil quality and helps offset some of the emissions produced by agriculture today; a win-win situation as described by several presenters at the April 6-7 workshop.

As a person who interfaces with many scientists and producer groups as well as having an active interest in a farming operation in my native Ohio, I want to commend the establishment of the workshops involving producer groups and scientists. I strongly believe that both groups need to collaborate with policy decision makers to include science-based solutions in all future policies.

In summary, Mr. Chairman and members of this subcommittee, I believe in agriculture there are two approaches to lessening the CO2 and greenhouse gases, and both of those approaches are through expanded research and adoption of new technologies. The approaches are research directed toward improved sequestration of C in soils and plants, and research directed toward new technology and improved emission efficiencies and the cropping practices that rely less on the fossil fuels. Using good management techniques that include rebuilding soil organic matter, practicing less tillage rather than more, developing and using biofuels, and practicing good environmental stewardship will be an important contribution by the agricultural community. We do need to recognize the valuable service of the American farmers who provide abundant low cost, and high quality food. I believe American farmers share a goal of minimizing impacts on the environment. We should assist the American farmer by providing research opportunities to develop new technologies. Placing the primary burden of reducing CO2 and greenhouse gas emissions on agriculture without addressing other entities, both on a national and on a global scale, that contribute to greenhouse gas emissions will be self-defeating. The greenhouse gas emissions is a global problem. I am convinced American farmers are willing to do their part. With new technology yet to be discovered, agriculture will become even more benign and productive. We owe it to our society to make it so. Lastly, I thank you very much for allowing me to present this testimony on behalf of the CAST membership.

Richard E. Stuckey, Ph.D.

Council for Agricultural Science and Technology