AGRICULTURAL SECTOR ANALYSIS ON GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSION MITIGATION IN THE UNITED STATES A Dissertation by UWE

Agricultural Sector Analysis on Greenhouse Gas Emission Mitigation in the United States. (December 2000) Uwe Schneider, M.Ag., Humboldt University, Berlin; M.S., Texas A&M University Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. Bruce A. McCarl This dissertation analyzes the economic potential of agriculture to participate in greenhouse gas emission mitigation efforts. Major agricultural mitigation strategies are included simultaneously to capture interactions. Results indicate that agriculture's contribution to emission reduction may be substantial, but not sufficient to fulfill the requirements of the Kyoto Protocol, which are estimated to be in the neighborhood of 700 million metric tons (MMT) of carbon equivalents by the year 2010. Even under extreme economic incentives, the annual emission reduction potential from U.S. agriculture does not exceed 300 MMT if including all carbon dioxide related strategies, or 400 MMT if also including carbon equivalent emission reductions of methane and nitrous oxide related strategies. Production of biomass feedstock for power plants, i.e. switch grass, becomes the dominating mitigation strategy for carbon saving incentives of $80 per ton of carbon equivalent and above. Lower incentives between $5 and $80 per metric ton of carbon equivalent lead to a complex mixture of various mitigation strategies involving reduced