PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

MSU team develops scalable climate solutions for agricultural carbon markets

2025-07-15
(Press-News.org) Why this matters:

Builds trust in carbon markets. This science-based baseline system dramatically improves accuracy, helping ensure carbon credits are credible and truly reflect climate benefits. Enables real climate impact by accounting for both soil carbon and nitrous oxide emissions, the approach delivers a full, net climate assessment. Scales across millions of acres. Tested on 46 million hectares in 12 Midwest states, this approach is ready for large-scale adoption, helping farmers transition to regenerative practices with confidence and clarity. EAST LANSING, Mich. – New research from Michigan State University, led by agricultural systems scientist Bruno Basso, addresses a major problem in agricultural carbon markets: how to set an accurate starting point, or “baseline,” for measuring climate benefits. Most current systems use fixed baselines that don’t account for the soil carbon changes and emissions that would occur if business-as-usual practices were maintained on fields. Such inaccuracies can distort carbon credit calculations and undermine market trust. 

“The choice of baseline can dramatically influence carbon credit generation; if the model is inaccurate, too many or too few credits may be issued, calling market legitimacy into question,” said Basso, a John A. Hannah Distinguished Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, the Department of Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences and the W.K. Kellogg Biological Station at MSU. “Our dynamic baseline approach provides flexible scenarios that capture the comparative climate impacts of soil organic carbon, or SOC, sequestration and nitrous oxide emissions from business-as-usual practices and the new regenerative system.” 

The research, published in the journal Scientific Reports, covers 46 million hectares of cropland across the U.S. Midwest, provides carbon market stakeholders with a scalable, scientifically robust crediting framework. It offers both the investment-grade credibility and operational simplicity needed to expand regenerative agriculture. 

Regenerative agriculture and carbon markets 

Regenerative agriculture includes practices like cover cropping, reduced or no tillage, diversified rotations, adaptive grazing and agroforestry. These methods restore soil health, enhance biodiversity, increase system resilience and help mitigate climate change by building SOC and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. 

Carbon markets offer a promising financial mechanism to accelerate regenerative transitions. By compensating farmers for verified climate benefits, they can act as either offset markets (for external buyers) or inset markets (within agricultural supply chains). However, the integrity of these markets hinges on reliable, science-based measurement, reporting and verification systems that integrate modeling, field data and remote sensing. 

A breakthrough multi-model ensemble approach 

To overcome limitations in traditional modeling, the MSU scientists and colleagues from different institutions in the U.S. and Europe deployed a multi-model ensemble, or MME, framework, using eight validated crop and biogeochemical models across 40,000 locations in 934 counties spanning 12 Midwestern states. The MME avoids model selection bias, lowering uncertainty in soil carbon predictions from 99% (with single models) to just 36% (with the MME). 

“This is a game changer for carbon markets,” said Basso. “It delivers a level of accuracy and scalability — from individual fields to entire regions — that current systems lack.”

The MME platform also enables the creation of precalculated, practice-based dynamic baselines, reducing the burden of data collection and easing participation for producers. 

Improved mitigation assessments  

Unlike many approaches that consider only SOC, the MSU lead team’s study evaluates both SOC sequestration and nitrous oxide emissions to determine net climate impact. 

“This comprehensive assessment ensures that carbon credits represent true climate mitigation,” said Tommaso Tadiello, postdoctoral fellow in MSU’s Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and co-author of the study. 

“A practice that increases soil carbon may improve soil health,” added Basso, “but it may not deliver actual climate benefits if it simultaneously increases nitrous oxide emissions. Our method provides a full accounting of the net climate effect.” 

The research team found that the combination of no-till and cover cropping delivered an average net mitigation of 1.2 metric tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent per hectare annually, potentially abating 16.4 teragrams of carbon dioxide-equivalent across the study area. 

This research was supported by the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, U.S. Department of Energy’s Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, National Science Foundation Long-Term Ecological Research, Builders Initiative, The Soil Inventory Project, Generation IM Foundation, Walton Family Foundation, Morgan Stanley Sustainable Solutions Collaborative and MSU AgBioResearch. 

By Kelly Kussmaul

###

Michigan State University has been advancing the common good with uncommon will for 170 years. One of the world’s leading public research universities, MSU pushes the boundaries of discovery to make a better, safer, healthier world for all while providing life-changing opportunities to a diverse and inclusive academic community through more than 400 programs of study in 17 degree-granting colleges.

For generations, Spartans have been changing the world through research. Federal funding helps power many of the discoveries that improve lives and keep America at the forefront of innovation and competitiveness. From lifesaving cancer treatments to solutions that advance technology, agriculture, energy and more, MSU researchers work every day to shape a better future for the people of Michigan and beyond. Learn more about MSU’s research impact powered by partnership with the federal government. 

 

For MSU news on the web, go to MSUToday or x.com/MSUnews.

 

END


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Playing an instrument may protect against cognitive aging

2025-07-15
Long-term musical training may mitigate the age-related decline in speech perception by enhancing cognitive reserve, according to a study published July 15th in the open-access journal PLOS Biology by Claude Alain from the Baycrest Academy for Research and Education, Canada, and Yi Du from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Normal aging is typically associated with declines in sensory and cognitive functions. These age-related changes in perception and cognition are often accompanied by increased ...

UNM study finds link between Grand Canyon landslide and Meteor Crater impact

2025-07-15
Geology is full of detective stories about Earth’s history, and a new paper in Geology by University of New Mexico Distinguished Professors Emeritus Karl Karlstrom and Laurie Crossey, along with their co-authors, links two iconic geologic landmarks of the American Southwest: the Grand Canyon and Meteor Crater. The article, titled Grand Canyon landslide-dam and paleolake triggered by the Meteor Crater impact at 56 ka, highlights the striking coincidence in the geologic ages of a meteor impact and a landslide dam that blocked the Colorado River, forming a paleolake in the Grand Canyon about ...

Ultra-hot Jupiter’s death spiral could reveal stellar secrets

2025-07-15
Astronomers track doomed planet's death spiral Macquarie University astronomers have tracked an extreme planet's orbital decay, confirming it is spiralling towards its star in a cosmic death dance that could end in three possible ways. The ultra-hot Jupiter exoplanet TOI-2109b, located 870 light-years from Earth, completes an orbit around its star in just 16 hours – making it the closest hot Jupiter ever discovered. With a mass nearly five times that of Jupiter and almost twice Jupiter's size, ...

You only get one brain! The best helmet material for protecting your noggin

2025-07-15
WASHINGTON, July 15, 2025 – Though participation in sports can have positive impacts both physiologically and socially, extreme sports, like football and roller derby, come with elevated risks. In a 2019 study, over 40% of 498 athletes suffered at least one injury over the course of the year. These injury rates are even higher in elite cricket — around 70%, with about 13% of all injuries being to the head, neck, and face — pointing to a need for improvements in protective helmets. In AIP Advances, by AIP Publishing, researchers ...

Neurodegeneration and stroke after GLP-1RAs in diabetes and obesity

2025-07-15
About The Study: In this cohort study, the use of glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs) semaglutide and tirzepatide was associated with a lower risk of dementia, stroke, and all-cause mortality in adults with type 2 diabetes and obesity. These findings suggest potential neuroprotective and cerebrovascular benefits of GLP-1RAs beyond glycemic control, warranting further trials to confirm these outcomes. Corresponding author: To contact the corresponding author, James Cheng-Chung Wei, M.D., Ph.D., email jccwei@gmail.com. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/  (doi: ...

Pediatric COVID-19 hospitalization trends by race and ethnicity, 2020-2023

2025-07-15
About The Study: This study found that among pediatric patients hospitalized with COVID-19, Black and Hispanic children were disproportionately more likely to be hospitalized for COVID-19 and experience severe disease compared with white and Asian or Pacific Islander children. A higher proportion of hospitalized Black children had underlying medical conditions. This study underlines the need for targeted interventions, particularly for children with underlying medical conditions, and the need for equitable access and use of vaccines and therapeutics for disproportionately affected populations. Corresponding author: To contact the corresponding author, ...

Research spotlight: New genetic roadmap offers insights into obesity and diabetes

2025-07-15
Q: How would you summarize your study for a lay audience? Our study examines how RNA in extracellular vesicles (EVs) can provide insights into metabolic phenotypes related to obesity. By using functional genomics approaches, we found a high representation of genes and regulatory elements previously associated with obesity and type 2 diabetes represented by the RNA cargo within these EVs. Notably, these EV transcripts represent regulatory elements and transcriptionally active genes in adipose tissue and are associated with metabolic ...

Fred Hutch leads new Vanguard Study for Cancer Screening Research Network

2025-07-15
SEATTLE – July 15, 2025 – Fred Hutch Cancer Center is leading the newly launched Vanguard Study, a national study of a new type of blood test that screens for several different cancers called multi-cancer detection (MCD) tests. Researchers will evaluate whether these blood tests will help people ages 45 to 75 find cancer early when it may be easier to treat. This is the first study of the Cancer Screening Research Network (CSRN), a nationwide network that will run trials aimed at improving cancer screening that is funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health. Fred Hutch serves as the Coordinating and Communications ...

‘Mismatched’ transplants now safe, effective for blood cancer patients, study finds

2025-07-15
Advances in blood stem cell transplants now make it possible for people with blood cancers to get safe and effective “mismatched” transplants that will potentially cure their disease, new UVA Cancer Center research reveals. The advances will allow far more people to receive the lifesaving treatment. Patients who could not find a perfect match traditionally have not received transplants because of the potential for graft-versus-host disease. This occurs when the immune system recognizes the transplanted cells as foreign and attacks them. This can be serious and, ...

New research helps narrow down uncertainties in near-term precipitation projections for the Asian Water Tower

2025-07-15
The Qinghai-Xizang Plateau (QP), often referred to as the "Asian Water Tower", is a vital source of water for nearly two billion people. Understanding how precipitation patterns in this region will change in the coming decades is crucial for water resource management and climate adaptation. However, projecting near-term precipitation changes has been challenging due to significant uncertainties in climate models. A new study published in Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Letters addresses this issue by analyzing near-term (2026–2055) precipitation projections for the QP using 100 ensemble members from the MPI-ESM climate model. The research ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

New research reveals the spark that ignites Mediterranean marine heatwaves

Researchers build first ‘microwave brain’ on a chip

Teens with higher blood levels of PFAS regain more weight after bariatric surgery, study finds

Discovery of ‘weird looking’ otter poo reveals how these animals shape nearby ecologies

River otters unfazed by feces and parasites while eating… and that’s good for ecosystems

From static to smart: HIT researchers developed programmable 4D-printed metamaterials that think, change, and perform multiple tasks

Back from the brink of extinction

Unlocking the power within: Recycling lithium batteries for a sustainable future 

Adoption of AI-scribes by doctors raises ethical questions

65LAB awards US$1.5 million to Duke-NUS platform to advance antifibrotic drug discovery

Mount Sinai study supports evidence that prenatal acetaminophen use may be linked to increased risk of autism and ADHD

Big-data longevity specialist boosts HonorHealth Research Institute’s efforts to help patients lead longer, more productive lives

Helping others shown to slow cognitive decline

Youth violence prevention program shown to reduce arrests by up to 75%

ADHD medication linked to reduced risk of suicide, drug abuse, transport accidents and criminal behaviour

AI Chatbots can be exploited to extract more personal information

Clinical trial shows newborns with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) can start treatment at birth

Broad COVID-19 vaccination makes economic sense, especially for older adults, study finds

People who move to more walkable cities do, in fact, walk significantly more

Zombie cancer cells give cold shoulder to chemotherapy

New bioimaging device holds potential for eye and heart condition detection

MSU study finds tiny microbes shape brain development

One universal antiviral to rule them all?

Arginine dentifrices significantly reduce childhood caries

MSU study finds print wins over digital for preschoolers learning to read

NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center earns recognition as a mitral valve repair reference center from the Mitral Foundation for third consecutive year

PSMA PET/CT prior to salvage radiotherapy improves overall survival for prostate cancer patients: Real-world data from an entire country

For professional fighters, childhood disadvantage linked to more brain changes later

NIH-funded study leads to new understanding of how stroke impacts reading

Clinical trial commences to treat spinal cord injury

[Press-News.org] MSU team develops scalable climate solutions for agricultural carbon markets