A New Tool for Putting Numbers on Low-Carbon Cropping and Feed

By Luke Soko

As carbon markets, supply-chain sustainability goals, and low-carbon livestock discussions continue to evolve, one question keeps coming up from farmers and advisers alike: How do my crop and manure management decisions actually affect carbon intensity?

To help answer that question, Iowa State University researchers have developed a new, practical tool: the Crop and Feed Carbon Intensity Tool.

What is Crop and Feed Carbon Intensity Tool?

It is an Excel-based calculator developed by Luke Soko and Dr. Dan Andersen that estimates the carbon intensity (CI) of:

• Corn and soybeans grown on a user’s farm
• Corn distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS)
• Soybean meal produced from those crops

The tool also includes county-level average CI values for corn, soybeans, DDGS, and soybean meal across all 99 Iowa counties, allowing users to compare their farm to a regional baseline. One item that is unique to this calculator is that while it allows users to input farm specific data, it also makes county specific manure estimates to help estimate what an average score for corn and soybean would be in that county, something most other tools don’t attempt.

Behind the scenes, Crop and Feed Carbon Intensity Tool draws from the Argonne GREET Feedstock Carbon Intensity Calculator, Iowa fertilizer and manure recommendations, and peer-reviewed research on soil carbon, nutrient cycling, fuel use, grain drying, and manure nutrient availability.