PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Johnson, Justin Andrew
AU  - Runge, Carlisle Ford
AU  - Senauer, Benjamin
AU  - Polasky, Stephen
TI  - Global Food Demand and Carbon-Preserving Cropland Expansion under Varying Levels of Intensification
AID  - 10.3368/le.92.4.579
DP  - 2016 Nov 01
TA  - Land Economics
PG  - 579--592
VI  - 92
IP  - 4
4099  - http://le.uwpress.org/content/92/4/579.short
4100  - http://le.uwpress.org/content/92/4/579.full
SO  - Land Econ2016 Nov 01; 92
AB  - Increasing demand for agricultural crops and a decline in the rate of yield improvements will require expansion of cropland (extensification), resulting in a loss of carbon storage. This paper uses global, spatially explicit data to analyze how extensification can be located to meet crop demand in a way that minimizes carbon losses under varying levels of intensification. Carbon-preserving extensification can reduce carbon loss by 7.3 billion tons compared to proportionally increasing extensification by 2050, valued at $1.3 trillion (2012 dollars) based on an estimated social cost of carbon of $181 per ton of carbon (∼$50 per ton CO2). (JEL Q18, Q24)