A study provides new insights for quantifying cropland carbon budgets and soil carbon credits, two important metrics for mitigating climate change. Using an advanced agroecosystem model on corn-soybean rotation systems in the U.S. Midwest, researchers assessed the impact of soil organic carbon (SOC) stock uncertainty on cropland carbon budget and soil carbon credit calculation. They found that high-accuracy SOC concentration measurements are needed to quantify a cropland carbon budget, but the current publicly available soil dataset is sufficient to accurately calculate carbon credits with low uncertainty. The results could simplify the process for calculating soil carbon credits, which reward farmers for conserving soil carbon through crop rotation, no-tillage, cover crops, and other conservation practices that improve soil health.