Greenhouse Gas Fluxes of Agricultural Soils in Finland

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Finland is a northern country with cool and humid climate. This has implications for the greenhouse gas balance of cultivated soils. Utilizing organic soils for food production is unavoidable in a country with high coverage of peat soils. As the greenhouse gas emissions per hectare are several folds on organic soils compared to mineral soils, organic soils are a dominant source of agriculture-related carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide emissions in country scale although their proportion is only 10% of the field area. Another factor that exposes fields to high losses of nutrients and organic matter is the short growing season and the resulting long non-vegetated period. The review of existing data shows that emissions of carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide are the most important components of the total greenhouse gas balance, whereas fluxes of methane are negligible in drained cultivated soils. Generally, the total emissions are higher from annual than perennial cropping. Climate and agricultural policies have tightening requirements for all economic sectors, and this imposes new challenges to agricultural management. As soils are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture, special attention should be paid on developing mitigation measures and practices that reduce the climatic impact of cultivated soils.