Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • NEWS AND VIEWS

A widespread agricultural practice is an unexpected CO2 sink

‘Liming’ to reduce soil acidity has long been considered a carbon dioxide source, but in North America’s largest river basin, it has resulted in net capture of atmospheric carbon.
By
  1. G. Philip Robertson

    1. G. Philip Robertson is in the W.K. Kellogg Biological Station, Michigan State University, Hickory Corners, Michigan 49060, USA, and the Department of Plant, Soil, and Microbial Sciences, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA.

  2. Stephen K. Hamilton

    1. Stephen K. Hamilton is in the W.K. Kellogg Biological Station, Michigan State University, Hickory Corners, Michigan 49060, USA, and Department of Integrative Biology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA.

Save article
View saved research

Every year, more than 30 million tonnes of agricultural lime, comprising mainly calcium and magnesium carbonates, are applied to US croplands to maintain optimal soil acidity (pH) for plant growth. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) considers this process, known as liming, to be a source of greenhouse-gas emissions because the chemical reaction through which lime, which is a source of alkalinity, neutralizes strong acids in soil also generates carbon dioxide1. However, writing in Nature, Suhrhoff et al.2 provide a comprehensive analysis of water chemistry in the Mississippi River basin and show that, overall, lime has been a substantial sink, not a source, of atmospheric CO2. This finding makes agricultural liming, in effect, a strategy for CO2 reduction.

Access options

Access through your institution

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 658, 39-41 (2026)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-026-02646-7

References

  1. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (United Nations, 2006).

  2. Suhrhoff, T. J. et al. Nature 658, 113–11 (2026).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Hamilton, S. K., Kurzman, A. L., Arango, C., Jin, L. & Robertson, G. P. Global Biogeochem. Cycles 21, GB2021 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. US Environmental Protection Agency. Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990–2020 (EPA, 2022).

  5. Robertson, G. P. In Encyclopedia of Agriculture and Food Systems 3rd edn, Vol. 1 (ed. Alexander, P.) 38–53 (Academic Press, 2025).

    Google Scholar 

  6. Power, I. M., Spence, J., Guo, M., Wilson, S. & Watmough, S. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 123, e2602421123 (2026).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Raymond, P., Planavsky, N. & Reinhard, C. T. Nature Water 3, 844–847 (2025).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Related Articles

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing Anthropocene

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Anthropocene newsletter — what matters in anthropocene research, free to your inbox weekly.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing: Anthropocene