Environmental benefits from carbon sequestration, canola production, and zero‐tillage adoption on Saskatchewan farms

Abstract Greenhouse gas emissions from crop production contribute to anthropogenic climate change, while agricultural soils also sequester atmospheric carbon. Direct measurement of soil organic carbon (SOC) is limited by high sampling costs and the vast spatial extent of farmland. This study applies an SOC prediction model to field‐level production data for 36,443 Saskatchewan fields from 1998 to 2019, relative to counterfactual cropping histories that partially reverse the displacement of summer fallow by canola. Estimated accumulated external social benefits range from $356 million to $2.1 billion.