Harvesting the Greenhouse through Altered Land Management: Economic Potential and Market Design Challenges

An Agricultural Sector Model is used to determine the economic potential of agricultural greenhouse gas emission reduction strategies within hypothetical emission mitigation markets. For a complete set of agricultural land management decisions, emissions and emission reductions of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide are accounted for and simultaneously subjected to a wide range of carbon prices. The estimated, competitive emission abatement supply functions for major agricultural strategies are contrasted with two other commonly used measures of abatement potential: single strategy economic potential and technical potential. Specific agricultural production and market characteristics that further impact agriculture's mitigation potential are discussed.