An international research collaboration has shed light on the impact that grass-fed animals have on climate change, adding clarity to the debate around livestock farming and meat and dairy consumption.
An international research collaboration has shed light on the impact that grass-fed animals have on climate change, adding clarity to the debate around livestock farming and meat and dairy consumption.
The newly published report dissects claims made by different stakeholders in the debate about so called ‘grass-fed’ beef, the greenhouse gases the animals emit, and the possibility that, through their grazing actions, they can help remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. It evaluates these claims and counterclaims against the best available science, providing an authoritative and evidence-based answer to the question: "Grazed and Confused? Ruminating on cattle, grazing systems, methane, nitrous oxide, the soil carbon sequestration question – and what it all means for greenhouse gas emissions". The report is written by Dr Tara Garnett of the Food Climate Research Network (FCRN) at the University of Oxford, Cécile Godde at Australia’s national science agency the CSIRO and a team of international experts.
Key findings include the observation that while grazing of grass-fed animals can boost the sequestration of carbon in some locally specific circumstances, that effect is time-limited, reversible, and at the global level, substantially outweighed by the greenhouse gas emissions they generate.
Read more at University of Oxford
Photo credit: Ryan Thompson/U.S. Department of Agriculture via Wikimedia Commons
