Wind erosion can cause high dust emissions from agricultural land and can lead to a significant loss of carbon and nutrients from the soil. The carbon balance of farmland soil is an integral part of the carbon cycle, especially under the current drive to develop carbon-neutral practices. However, the amount of global carbon lost due to the wind erosion of farmland is unknown. In this study, global farmland dust emissions were estimated from a dust emission inventory (0.1° × 0.1°, daily) built using the improved Community Multiscale Air Quality Modeling System–FENGSHA (CMAQ-FENGSHA), and global farmland organic carbon losses were estimated by combining this with global soil organic carbon concentration data. The average global annual dust emissions from agricultural land from 2017 to 2021 were 1.75 × 10⁹ g/s. Global dust emissions from agricultural land are concentrated in the UK, Ukraine, and Russia in Europe; in southern Canada and the central US in North America; in the area around Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, in South America; and in northeast China in Asia. The global average annual organic carbon loss from agricultural land was 2970 Gg for 2017–2021. The spatial distribution of emissions is roughly consistent with that of dust emissions, which are mainly concentrated in the world’s four major black soil regions. These estimates of dust and organic carbon losses from agricultural land are essential references that can inform the global responses to the carbon cycle, dust emissions, and black soil conservation.

As the cereal-producing region of China’s black soil, there are many agricultural activities, mainly including cultivation, straw processing, and harvesting, in Northeast China. In the process of carrying out these agricultural activities, they inevitably lead to large carbon emissions, among which straw burning and wind erosion are two processes that directly lead to carbon emissions from farmland. In this study, we estimated the carbon emissions of these two processes based on two algorithms: the improved Fire Radiative Power and Community Multiscale Air Quality (FENGSHA) algorithms. The results showed that the carbon emissions from straw burning in Northeast China can reach up to 126,651 Gg in 2017, and those from wind erosion of agricultural land can reach up to 80.45 Gg a year. When compared with the carbon emissions in 2017, the implementation of the Action Plan for Straw Disposal in Northeast China resulted in around a 40% decrease in the carbon emissions from straw burning in 2022. However, the carbon emissions from agricultural land wind erosion increased by about 10%. The seasonal characteristics of both straw burning and farmland wind erosion were obvious, with both being concentrated in the spring. In addition, based on the potential impacts of straw burning on wind erosion, we proposed that a Y-shaped integrated monitoring network should be constructed to monitor both straw burning and wind erosion in Northeast China. Thus, the study of carbon emissions from straw burning and wind erosion in Northeast China is of great importance for energy conservation and emission reduction, and the implementation of a straw burning ban policy, straw recycling and reuse, and a black soil protection policy is recommended.