Application of the Crop Carbon Progress Calculator in a 'farm to ship' cotton production case study in Australia

We estimate that for this particular case study the total carbon footprint of producing a bale of cotton up to ship's side or point of export is 323 kg CO2e. This includes 182 kg CO2e from the farm production phase, 73.1 kg CO2e from the gin to port supply chain, and 68.1 kg CO2e that results from emission from the stock piled gin trash at the gins. It appears that a feasible option to avoid these trash emissions is to incorporate the waste at farm level. Our analysis shows that this could generate an emissions credit of 48.8 kg CO2e per bale at farm level, which will amount to a 27% reduction in the farm emissions footprint and a 15% reduction in the whole farm to ship carbon footprint. Due to a number of site specific environmental and crop management factors, there can be significant variances in crop carbon footprint outcomes.