Australian Macadamia Orchards Predominantly Function as Carbon Sinks.

ABSTRACT: The need to develop practices enabling deep and continued reductions in greenhouse gases (GHG) is arguably the greatest challenge facing humanity in the 21st century. Here, we quantify GHG emissions of macadamia enterprises in Australia and then contrast potential abatement realized by practice change. We show that nitrogenous (N) fertilizer accounted for more than half of net farm emissions, followed by fuel and electricity. Soil organic carbon accrual dictated carbon removals and GHG emissions intensity. Many enterprises applied N fertilizer at rates higher than recommended best practices, suggesting that reduced fertilizer quantities may sustainably reduce GHG emissions without impacting yields. We conclude that many macadamia farms are net carbon sinks, which contrasts with other agric

SUBMITTER: Bhattarai G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12424186 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature