Reappraisal of the place of cultivated plants in the carbon budget

Reappraisal of the place of cultivated plants in the carbon budget | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Reappraisal of the place of cultivated plants in the carbon budget Arnaud Edouard Jean Muller-Feuga This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6760420/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The impact of agriculture on the climate remains underestimated due to the systematic exclusion of annual crops from carbon budgets. Considered too ephemeral, these crops are nevertheless responsible for the absorption and storage of approximately one-third of the carbon biofixed by photosynthesis, with half-lives that are not limited to a single season but extend on average over 8.9 years. The kinetics of variation in carbon capture and release by cultivated plants over the half-century were simulated using two error functions which made it possible to complete the probabilistic calculation of the carbon budget components. In 2023, all cultivated plants (crops, grasslands, and forest plantations) had a stored carbon half-life of 17.6 years. They had removed 39.2+-0.5 billion tonnes of CO₂ (GtCO2) per year from the atmosphere, more than global emissions from hydrocarbon combustion. The time distribution allowed by this simulation suggests that cultivated plants would have biofixed a cumulative net total of 455 GtCO2 in 2023, or 14% of the mass of atmospheric CO2. Given the importance of carbon capture and storage by cultivated plants, both in duration and quantity, rural activities should be integrated into carbon budgets and the resulting climate strategies and recognized as a carbon capture and storage (CCS) device in carbon cycle regulation policies. This recognition would allow for the fair valuation of the work of farmers and foresters as part of the ecological transition, particularly through remuneration mechanisms such as carbon credits. CO2 agriculture forestry carbon budget ocean Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6760420","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":494934246,"identity":"50bc4150-fda1-4374-bbcd-2bf35dbbdfba","order_by":0,"name":"Arnaud Edouard Jean Muller-Feuga","email":"data:image/png;base64,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","orcid":"","institution":"AMF Conseil","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Arnaud","middleName":"Edouard Jean","lastName":"Muller-Feuga","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-05-27 14:23:44","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6760420/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6760420/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":88295037,"identity":"ba0f2632-b286-43a0-9a4b-0d2efa15da6a","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-08-05 03:11:10","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1139462,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Reappraisaloftheplaceofcultivatedpalntsinthecarbonbudget.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6760420/v1_covered_26c0314d-9e63-40f0-a71a-7195f19f73d3.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Reappraisal of the place of cultivated plants in the carbon budget","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"CO2, agriculture, forestry, carbon budget, ocean","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6760420/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6760420/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"The impact of agriculture on the climate remains underestimated due to the systematic exclusion of annual crops from carbon budgets. Considered too ephemeral, these crops are nevertheless responsible for the absorption and storage of approximately one-third of the carbon biofixed by photosynthesis, with half-lives that are not limited to a single season but extend on average over 8.9 years. The kinetics of variation in carbon capture and release by cultivated plants over the half-century were simulated using two error functions which made it possible to complete the probabilistic calculation of the carbon budget components. In 2023, all cultivated plants (crops, grasslands, and forest plantations) had a stored carbon half-life of 17.6 years. They had removed 39.2+-0.5 billion tonnes of CO₂ (GtCO2) per year from the atmosphere, more than global emissions from hydrocarbon combustion. The time distribution allowed by this simulation suggests that cultivated plants would have biofixed a cumulative net total of 455 GtCO2 in 2023, or 14% of the mass of atmospheric CO2. Given the importance of carbon capture and storage by cultivated plants, both in duration and quantity, rural activities should be integrated into carbon budgets and the resulting climate strategies and recognized as a carbon capture and storage (CCS) device in carbon cycle regulation policies. This recognition would allow for the fair valuation of the work of farmers and foresters as part of the ecological transition, particularly through remuneration mechanisms such as carbon credits.","manuscriptTitle":"Reappraisal of the place of cultivated plants in the carbon budget","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-08-05 03:03:01","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6760420/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"04f2fdeb-ff59-4733-b69b-b8537070c6f3","owner":[],"postedDate":"August 5th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-08-05T03:03:01+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-08-05 03:03:01","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-6760420","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-6760420","identity":"rs-6760420","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}