Research into these inefficiencies often leads to improvements in processes and systems, which ultimately saves money down the road. Soil, along with oceans, is one of the big storehouses or sinks of carbon. The more carbon we can store in the soil, the more we may counteract emissions from other sources. Both grasslands and forests are better at doing this than conventional cropland. This is because perennials are generally better than annuals in banking carbon-containing root material and grasslands are broken less often than cultivated crops.
Grasslands cover a huge portion of arable land.
In Alberta they occupy half of all farmland. It can be estimated that the productivity of half of the rangeland is at less than its potential. This is mostly because of man made problems or lack of management after disturbance. Small differences in productivity of these very large areas around North America and the world could make huge differences to world carbon stores and therefore to the greenhouse effect. The biggest difference is between range and tame pasture and forage grown for conserved feed.