Author: craigshelton401

“Researchers at James Cook University in Queensland, Australia, found the addition of less than 2 per cent dried seaweed to a cow’s diet could reduce their methane emissions by as much as 99 per cent.”“…The Irish Farmers’ Association gave a broad welcome to the study saying the research provides the opportunity to continue to build on Ireland’s “sustainable grass-based model of food production”.

The association’s environment chairman, Thomas Cooney, called on Irish researchers “to immediately investigate the potential for this research in an Irish agriculture context, and in the context of the opportunity that may exist for indigenous seaweed production”.

Not all Beef is bad. “Healthy Grass & Cropland”, “Healthy Grassland” or “Healthy Silvopasture” systems can be very eco-friendly, especially if the cattle diet is supplemented by 2% with a species of red algae called Asparagopsis taxiformis. Good management practices are key.

–Union of Concerned Scientists (7.14.16)

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“Animal integration into croplands has been proposed as a strategy to mitigate climate change through carbon sequestration in soils. This project aims at quantifying the influence of ICLS variations and fertility management on carbon pools and net system productivity in California annual and perennial cropland. Additionally, increases in total organic soil carbon content and biodiversity through livestock integration have been shown to shape soil ecosystem and the services they provide.”

–Boston University

Current ‘gold standard’ research shows that elevated CO2 levels (such as we are likely to experience in our lifetimes) drive down the concentrations of important minerals like calcium, potassium, zinc and iron by 8 percent, on average, and drive down the protein contents of wheat and rice by 6 percent and 8 percent, respectively.

http://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2017/09/13/food-nutrients-carbon-dioxide-000511

“Nitrate-contaminated groundwater is now pervasive in agricultural areas in California such as the San Joaquin and Salinas valleys. It’s a serious problem in rural communities that rely solely on wells for drinking water…most nitrate pollution comes from crop runoff – 55 percent from synthetic fertilizer [industrial agriculture] and 33 percent from animal manure [industrial dairy] – according to a University of California, Davis study commissioned by the State Water Resources Control Board.”

Holistic, regenerative agriculture helps mitigate this problem.

https://www.newsdeeply.com/water/articles/2017/08/31/why-californias-nitrate-problem-will-take-decades-to-fix

 

“In this study, the authors do a really good job of quantifying how humans have altered the Earth’s surface soil carbon stocks through extensive agriculture, with direct implications for atmospheric CO2 concentrations and the climate.”

“The model suggested that agricultural changes are responsible for the loss of a total of 133 petagrams, or 133 billion metric tons, of carbon from the top six-foot-deep layer of soil all over the world. The most intense losses per unit of land have been caused by the planting of crops — however, more land worldwide is devoted to grazing livestock than cropping.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/08/23/this-is-why-when-you-talk-about-climate-change-you-cant-ignore-agriculture/?utm_content=bufferf2999&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

 

Researchers found that land use changes associated with planting crops and grazing livestock have caused a loss of 133 billion tons of carbon from soil worldwide over the last 12,000 years, amounting to about 13 years of global emissions at their current levels. http://m.pnas.org/content/early/2017/08/15/1706103114.full

“A biotech startup called Indigo Agriculture is harnessing microbes to help farmers increase crop yields. The company collects microbes from plants around the world and identifies which ones help in drought conditions. For example, some microbes help plants retain water or stimulate root growth.”

https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2017/08/microbes-could-help-crops-endure-droughts/

 

Regenerative agriculture can also help to take carbon from the atmosphere and put it back in the ground through photosynthesis.

The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization says 24 billion tonnes of fertile or 12 million hectares topsoil are lost every year and 25% of the earth’s surface has already become degraded. If this rate of soil degradation continues, there are only 60 more harvests left.

https://www.just-food.com/analysis/how-the-food-industry-can-help-reverse-climate-change_id137294.aspx

Modern industrial agricultural methods have stripped increasing amounts of nutrients from the soil in which the food we eat grows. Sadly, each successive generation of fast-growing, pest-resistant carrot is truly less good for you than the one before.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/soil-depletion-and-nutrition-loss/