Which agricultural practice often leads to greenhouse gases or carbon dioxide emissions?

• A. Pollution
• B. Desertification
• C. Land cover change
• D. Deforestation

Answer: (A)

Deforestation is the practice that directly releases a lot of carbon dioxide. When forests are cleared or burned to create farmland, the carbon stored in trees and soils is released into the atmosphere, and the land loses its capacity to store carbon in the future. In agricultural contexts, expanding farmland by removing forests thus becomes a major source of CO2 emissions. Desertification and other land changes can influence carbon stocks over time, but the immediate and clearest link to CO2 comes from deforestation. Pollution isn’t a specific farming practice aimed at production, and land cover change is a broader category that includes deforestation, but deforestation is the most direct driver of CO2 emissions in agriculture.