Food Dialogues
Comment on Question
-
The press reports that the carbon footprint of animal agriculture is high. What are farmers / ranchers doing to reduce ag carbon footprint?
Author: TruffleMedia
:
Topic: Environmental Stewardship
:
11
Vote
|
The press reports that the carbon footprint of animal agriculture is high. What are farmers / ranchers doing to reduce ag carbon footprint? Author: TruffleMedia:Topic: Environmental Stewardship: |
11Vote |
Do farmers have the tools to measure their carbon footprints?
Finding local markets is tough - finding processors to supply them is tougher! For local demand of rabbit meat in northwest Alabama I must send my rabbits to Kentucky to be skinned and dressed, because there are no processors here to do it. That is regulations - beyond us.
We do have a very powerful tool to measure carbon sequestration. Our soil tests include "percent organic matter" or carbon. ^% is peat, less than 1% will behave like sand, silt or clay and but still grow things. If we can improve the organic matter level 0.05% we sequester 1 ton of carbon per acre.
The UN's report Livestock's Long Shadow which is the basis of most of the high carbon footprint news. First it assumes the rainforest is cut down to graze, not that the grazing is part of the maintenance of a healthy prairie grassland. Then it assumes animals are developed on grass only which is a much greater impact than the cow/calf followed by feedlot system used in the USA and Canada.
??? Who is answering these questions? TruffleMedia? Comment system is a bit wonky.
Dairy producers are very conscientious about their carbon footprint. There are so fewer cows then ever and dairy producers are doing a better job of producing quality food for more Americans then ever. Dairy producers are finding new ways to convert manure into compost and using this product as a fertilizer on their own crops and sharing this product with their neighbors as well.
Modern beef production has already lowered it's "carbon footprint" through improved genetics and technologies. As compared to 1977 today's beef production uses 30% less land, 14% less water, 20% fewer feedstuffs and 9% less fossil fuel per pound of meat produced.
First of all, I think we need to step back and actual look at facts. The press has not reported the real number on raising livestock and the environment. Did you know? The EPA reported that all U.S. Agriculture contributes 6.4 percent of greenhouse gas emissions and livestock only contributes 2.8% of the ag sector. Does that match the press reports? I encourage you to research the facts given in the media.