Plants remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through photosynthesis. Because agriculture’s productivity is based on this process, a combination of technologies to reduce emissions and enhance soil carbon storage can allow this sector to achieve net negative emissions while maintaining high productivity. Unfortunately, current row-crop agricultural practice generates about 5% of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States and European Union. To reduce these emissions, significant effort has been focused on changing farm management practices to maximize soil carbon. In contrast, the potential to reduce emissions has largely been neglected. Through a combination of innovations in digital agriculture, crop and microbial genetics, and electrification, we estimate that a 71% (1,744 kg CO₂e/ha) reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from row crop agriculture is possible within the next 15 y. Importantly, emission reduction can lower the barrier to broad adoption by proceeding through multiple stages with meaningful improvements that gradually facilitate the transition to net negative practices. Emerging voluntary and regulatory ecosystems services markets will incentivize progress along this transition pathway and guide public and private investments toward technology development. In the difficult quest for net negative emissions, all tools, including emission reduction and soil carbon storage, must be developed to allow agriculture to maintain its critical societal function of provisioning society while, at the same time, generating environmental benefits.

植物通过光合作用从大气中去除二氧化碳。由于农业的生产力基于这一过程，减少排放和增强土壤碳储存的技术组合可以使该部门在保持高生产力的同时实现净负排放。不幸的是，在美国和欧盟，目前的中耕作农业实践产生了大约 5% 的温室气体排放。为了减少这些排放，人们一直在努力改变农场管理做法，以最大限度地提高土壤碳排放量。相比之下，减少排放的潜力在很大程度上被忽视了。通过结合数字农业、作物和微生物遗传学以及电气化方面的创新，我们估计 71%（1,744 kg CO ₂e/ha) 在未来 15 年内减少行作物农业的温室气体排放是可能的。重要的是，减排可以通过多个阶段进行有意义的改进来降低广泛采用的障碍，从而逐步促进向净负面做法的过渡。新兴的自愿和监管生态系统服务市场将激励沿着这一过渡途径取得进展，并引导公共和私人投资向技术发展方向发展。在实现净负排放的艰巨任务中，必须开发包括减排和土壤碳储存在内的所有工具，以使农业能够保持其提供社会的关键社会功能，同时产生环境效益。