How was soybean emissions study a ‘surprise’ to ISU researcher?

ISU agronomist Tomas Della Chiesa was quoted in the Dec. 22 Gazette (Substantial emissions linked to soybean season, Page 1C) as saying he was surprised to find a high number for soybean emissions of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N₂O.)

That statement is surprising because in an earlier study he helped conduct in 2022, the abstract concluded that the study's results suggested "that N₂O emissions from the vast 15 million ha of soybean croplands in the Pampas region may be substantially underestimated." (Aug. 20, 2022, Science of the Total Environment, Vol. 835.)

And so now in 2024 Dr. Della Chiesa expresses "surprise" that soybean emissions were "surprisingly higher" than what was expected?

Coincidentally, 2022 wasn't Dr. Della Chiesa's first foray into calculating nitrous oxide emissions from soybeans. In 2019 he participated in another study investigating nitrous oxide emissions from soybean, corn, and wheat croplands. (Jan. 1, 2019, Journal of Environmental Quality, Vol. 48, Issue 1.)

He is obviously no newcomer to this field of research, which is reassuring. So, it's unclear how the statement of "surprise" at the latest findings of nitrous oxide emissions from soybean fields came to be included in Sunday's Gazette.

Dick Janson

Decorah