In the realm of greenhouse gas emissions, carbon dioxide often takes the spotlight. However, tiny organisms in farm fields emit nitrous oxide, a gas far more potent in warming the atmosphere. Researchers may have found a solution in a naturally derived bacteria, which, according to a study published in Nature, has shown promising results in reducing nitrous oxide emissions. Extensive lab and field trials demonstrated that this bacteria effectively reduces nitrous oxide without disrupting other soil microbes, survives well in soil, and would be relatively inexpensive to produce.
“I think that the avenue that we have opened here, it opens up for a number of new possibilities in bioengineering of the farmed soil,” said Lars Bakken, a professor at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences and one of the study’s authors. Nitrous oxide, known as laughing gas, can warm the atmosphere 265 times more than carbon dioxide and can persist for over a century. The heavy use of nitrogen fertilizer in farming significantly increases nitrous oxide production, contributing to 6% of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions from human activities in 2022, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. This discovery could pave the way for more sustainable agricultural practices and significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
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