Significant yield benefits from basalt soil amendments in the Southeastern US

There is increasing evidence that carbon dioxide removal (CDR) strategies will play a significant role in global greenhouse gas management. Enhanced weathering (EW) is a CDR strategy with substantial carbon removal potential, which can simultaneously offer agronomic and soil fertility co-benefits to farmers. These co-benefits have been extensively theorized, but few agronomic field trials have quantified yield increases attributable to EW. In this study, we present substantial (>20%) yield benefits from a 2-year conventional corn-soy strip trial of basalt application in the Southeastern United States. Increases in soil pH and losses in total cation concentration in the upper portion of the soil provide evidence of basalt weathering. We also present stochastic economic analysis of net per-hectare revenue shift with subsidization of basalt purchase, hauling, and application. If rock application is subsidized, these results suggest a potential benefit to the grower of >$250 per-hectare for soybean production, and >$750 per-hectare for corn production within the first two years of application. This work provides some of the first direct evidence of 20% yield increases associated with EW in a large-scale strip trial, as well as substantial economic and agronomic benefits of EW on working lands.