Greenhouse gas footprint of replacing nutrients lost through soil erosion due to root and tuber crops harvesting

Soil loss due to root crop harvesting (SLCH) is an important component of total soil erosionthat threatens sustainable agriculture. Globally, it ranges from 1.81 to 4.55 Mg ha-1per harvest. I assessed greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint of producing fertilizer to replacenutrients lost with soil due to potato (Solanum tuberosum L.), carrot (Daucus carota L.), andcelery (Apium graveolens L.) harvesting in the Izmir-Odemis town, Konya province andSakarya-Geyve town in Turkey. Production of mineral fertilizers contributes to the globalGHG emissions. About 40x103 Mg of soil per year was lost annually through potato, carrotand celery harvest from the study region, which resulted in 32.93 Mg of N, 3.21 Mg of P2O5,and 7.69 Mg of K2O losses per year. The fertilizer production to replace the nutrients lostreleases about 270 Mg CO2 per year. The large nutrient losses and GHG emissions warrantconsideration of soil management practices to reduce SLCH.