Financial and N₂O effects of soil management measures on arable farms in Scotland

This paper presents financial and environment impacts of four farm management scenarios (cover crops, residue management, zero tillage and minimum tillage) which are applicable to Scottish arable farms. Financial impact was considered to be the changes in farm net profit and environment impact was considered to be the changes in total N2O emission on farm. A farm level optimising model, ScotFarm, was used on four representative arable farm
types. The model was run under a baseline scenario where existing farm soil management practices were adopted and under the four alternative management scenarios. The results suggest that the tillage management options are financially more beneficial compared to the cover crop and residue management practices. The cover crops management practice is associated with the lowest N2O emissions. The residue management is projected to have neither financial nor environment benefits on farms.