No reason to demonise farming
OPINION: New Zealand has said it is going to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by ‘a lot’ and ‘in a short time’. One of those gases is methane. Our biggest producer of methane is livestock farming.
Scientists and policymakers will meet this week (March 20-22) at the University of California, to recommend science-based actions to slow the effects of climate change yet continue meeting the world’s need for food, livelihood and sustainability.
UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi says climate change, which brings severe weather events and more subtle but equally menacing temperature changes, presents unprecedented challenges to the global community.
Attendees will discuss the implications of cutting-edge agricultural, ecological and environmental research for improved design of policies and actions affecting agricultural management and development; identifying farm and food-system issues; determining research gaps; highlighting emerging research initiatives; and developing transformative policies and institutions.
The conference will conclude with a declaration on key research and policy messages expected to point toward science-based policies and actions for global agriculture that will mitigate climate change and encourage adaptation to maintain food security, livelihoods and biodiversity.
The conference comes as researchers in Germany develop a new model to allow agricultural landholders to determine the full range of causes of greenhouse gas emissions, including soil and climate conditions. They say agriculture causes 10-12% of greenhouse gases attributable to human activities.
The scientists spent three years investigating 40 organic and 40 conventional agricultural holdings in Germany’s four agricultural regions – focusing exclusively on crop and dairy farms. They recorded all climate gas streams during the production process, including methane, nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide. In the case of dairy farms, they also factored in the purchase of soybean meal from South America and all related greenhouse gas emissions.
Organic farming is more energy efficient and produces less land-specific CO2 emissions, but the researchers say this advantage is offset by the much lower yields of organic farming.
