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# GRAPHIC: Soil management accounts for half of all agricultural greenhouse gas emissions
- URL: https://www.investigatemidwest.org/graphic-soil-management-accounts-for-half-of-all-agricultural-greenhouse-gas-emissions/
- Published: 2022-05-25T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2022-05-25T15:00:00.000Z
- Description: Agriculture accounts for 11% of the country’s greenhouse gasses, according to Congressional researchers.
- Author: Madison McVan, Investigate Midwest
- Tags: Data Harvest, National, TP::Explainer, greenhouse gas, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-06-18 04:56

The agriculture sector accounts for 11% of all greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, according to a [Congressional Research Service report.](https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF11404?ref=investigatemidwest.org)

Soil management practices — including applying fertilizer, irrigating a field, [draining](https://extension.umn.edu/agricultural-drainage/how-agricultural-drainage-works?ref=investigatemidwest.org) a field's water, tilling or turning over the soil, changes in land use and spreading livestock manure on fields — made up half of the agricultural emissions.

The second-largest chunk of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions comes from enteric fermentation, part of the digestive processes of livestock, [commonly referred to as “cow burps.”](https://www.wbur.org/news/2022/04/22/cows-methane-global-warming-climate-change-seaweed?ref=investigatemidwest.org)

Another major contributor to agricultural emissions is manure management practices — livestock and poultry manure stored in lagoons and tanks.

All together, soil management, enteric fermentation and manure management account for 90% of greenhouse gas emissions attributed to the agriculture sector.

*Top image: Farmland near Marengo, Iowa, has a layer of foliage in the topsoil protecting the subsoil. Nov. 9, 2015\. photo by Danielle Wilde, IowaWatch*