Yes more CO2 IS released when stalks are plowed or otherwise tilled - that is usually in the fall or early spring and is quickly released long before there is a corn leaf canopy above the residue to use the released CO2. It is an asset lost into the atmosphere rather than feeding the plant.

There are places like the Chicago Climate Exchange that are actually willing to pay you to leave residue on the surface for slower later breakdown. Jim Kinsella and local Farm Bureaus have been promoting sequestering carbon for some time now.

We now have equipment which can provide the means to raise good corn, etc and still leave most residue on the surface for slower, natural breakdown when the CO2 released is a valuable asset to the plant. Look at the color of Paul's corn above. I doubt he retouched the photo.

Whether you believe global warming is real or just baloney, why not let someone pay you to leave residue on the surface while at the same time giving your crop a boost when it can use it?

Again, I am an engineer/steel guy, not an agronomist. This is my understanding of what I have learned from some people I respect. May or may not be correct or the whole story. I think it is correct however. jmho.

Jim at Dawn