Testing simple soil carbon measuring tools (journal)

Soil organic carbon assessment using the Carbon Management Evaluation Tool for Voluntary Reporting and the Soil Conditioning Index 

Simple, yet reliable models are needed to quantify soil organic carbon (SOC) changes for a wide diversity of agricultural management conditions. This article compares the outputs of two relatively simple models currently available for farmers and government-financed farm support agencies: the Carbon Management Evaluation Tool for Voluntary Reporting of Greenhouse Gases (COMET-VR) and the Soil Conditioning Index (SCI). Our results suggest that both models have value and limitations and that measures of SOC sequestration are predictable with these tools under a diversity of typical management conditions.