Mitigation of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Agriculture.

[Eryri]

The Welsh government has recently produced a report ......

Options for Mitigation of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Agricultural Activity

There are two things that I have noticed.....

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A : Livestock.

There are 220,000 beef cattle, 280,000 dairy cattle and 9,500,000 sheep in Wales. Methane output by livestock type (Wales 2008) is as follows :

Cattle : 71,000 tonnes from inside the animal and an additional 11,000 tonnes from manure management.
Sheep : 49,000 tonnes.
Poultry : 2,000 tonnes.

For all practical purposes it's capturing the 11,000 tonnes of methane emitted from manure management in slurry pits that is the key, and there is scope for adding other organic matter into digesters to give off more methane. However, for every tonne of methane captured, there is 7 tonnes that goes unused as greenhouse gas into the atmosphere. The capture of methane from agriculture might seem 'environmentally friendly' when looked at in isolation, but when the big picture is considered the energy conversion ratio is even less efficient than burning coal in a steam engine. It is just 'greenwash' for intensively reared indoor cattle.

The way to make agriculture more 'environmentally friendly', is to look at land use and type of husbandry.

Just one example is that the greenhouse gas emission per kilo of lamb produced in the UK as a whole is 17.4kg but specifically in Wales it is 8.2Kg. This is because lowland husbandry uses high amounts of nitrous fertiliser on enhanced pasture and big fast growing breeds, but lamb produced on upland is mainly hardier breeds which graze un-improved pasture for longer periods of the year. This 'environmental difference' is not priced into lamb prices at point of sale. It actually puts the more environmentally friendly produced meat at a competitive disadvantage.

Another example is the claim that poultry is the most environmentally produced meat, with negligible greenhouse gas emissions, but if you include the emissions cost of feed (mainly grain) it comes in at 4.57kg of greenhouse gasses emitted per kg of meat produced.

We have a 'carbon tax' in the production of electricity where a fossil fuel levee subsidises renewable, so why don't we have one on meat production ?

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B : Biomass crops.

Another rather disturbing statistic in the report is that the most efficient biomass plantation is actually conifer forest which has a net carbon sink of 37 tonnes of CO2 per hectare per year, in comparison to deciduous woodland which has a net carbon sink of only 14 tonnes of CO2 per hectare per year. This is due to faster growth of conifers as well as less reversals (fungi and natural CO2 emission).

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I thought I'd add this for discussion.

[Littlesparrow]

I'm not a natural vegetarian, but the price of meat in the shops is horrendous. I should think for most families it would make it impossible to have meat in any large quantity everyday.
I can't say I have thought much about green house gases when i,m shopping, if you eat eggs for example you still need to keep chickens, fish ,well what fish? some stocks are running out,and then there is imported food and all those air miles its flying.Bit of a mine field.

[STYRBJORN]

Not to mention that bovlne flatulence (this is a family site pipple!) accounts for at most 18%, more likely <10%, of methane generated per unit time.

Ric

[Littlesparrow]

I still think it is no go taxing the poor British beef farmer when the French will send over their cheepo stuff to fill the void. You have got to start with the consumer and change their eating habits without putting jobs and other food sources at risk.
Time, education and imagination is the key. we need a political Jamie Oliver to get everyone interested or not much will happen.

[animartco]

Hi Eryri,
Ok to dicuss. You have done a lot of research. I hate research, and tend to use comon sense. When you have animals grazing on land the carbon use is much less than for any crop, because you have to cost in the tractor and cost of making it over the years that it remains usable, cost of maintenance and of course fuel.
Cows and sheep can fertilize their own fields. Some input is required but not every year. It is of course ONLY intensive farming of animals that is the problem as you say.
I would take issue that conifers grow faster than broadleaves. It may be true in Scotland at altitude but it is not true further South. In unmanaged woodland though, the broadleaves are often mature, and therefore have virtually stopped growing. You would need plantations. I was once told that the fastest growing tree in Britian is the horse chestnut. I'm not sure if that is true today.

[STYRBJORN]

Originally Posted by animartco

Hi Eryri,
Ok to dicuss. You have done a lot of research. I hate research, and tend to use comon sense. When you have animals grazing on land the carbon use is much less than for any crop, because you have to cost in the tractor and cost of making it over the years that it remains usable, cost of maintenance and of course fuel.
Cows and sheep can fertilize their own fields. Some input is required but not every year. It is of course ONLY intensive farming of animals that is the problem as you say.
I would take issue that conifers grow faster than broadleaves. It may be true in Scotland at altitude but it is not true further South. In unmanaged woodland though, the broadleaves are often mature, and therefore have virtually stopped growing. You would need plantations. I was once told that the fastest growing tree in Britian is the horse chestnut. I'm not sure if that is true today.

Ho-ho. Cypressus leylandia dear heart.

HERE WE GO AGAIN! Animartco vs Styrbjorn round three! Place your bets now! Fantasy fights facts.
Gillian, you are so-o-o- wrong! Again! Seconds out of the ring and let's have a good clean fight!

Ric X X X !

[Meta menardi]

Originally Posted by animartco

You have done a lot of research. I hate research, and tend to use comon sense.

Common sense is just the first stage of trying to find out what is really true, surely. When you observe and record reality, then that is research. I find the observations of Henri Fabre inspirational (search for his books on Project Gutenburg), he observed and reasoned from his observations. That is research, coming from common sense.

[Eryri]

I notice that the largest greenhouse gas emission (by a factor 15) per kilo of human food is dairy. It leads me to suggest that vegetarians who substitute meat with dairy produce is a method of flatulence by proxy. The lowest carbon footprint by consumption is a good locally produced roast lamb dinner with lots of root vegetables, followed by rhubarb crumble. Nothing better to eat after a hard day planting trees.

[Manders]

Anything emitted from animals is part of a cycle, it doesnt permanently add to global warming, unlike burning coal, oil or gas.