REGINA — A study analyzing the carbon footprint of five key crops found Saskatchewan’s emissions are far lower than other leading producers. The Global Institute for Food Security released the results of its two-part study on canola, wheat, durum, field peas and lentils last week. The study was carried out with the provincial government. Olufunke […] Read more
Tag Archives greenhouse gas emissions
Canada tackles cattle methane emissions
REGINA — Canada intends to offer cattle feeders incentives to reduce methane emissions. In a statement issued Dec. 10 Environment and Climate Change Canada said it had published a draft protocol, Reducing Enteric Methane Emissions from Beef Cattle, to encourage producers to make changes that would cut emissions from burping cattle. In return producers would […] Read more
Ethanol industry needs carbon capture for aviation market
REUTERS — Carbon capture and storage (CCS) at ethanol plants in the U.S. Midwest is necessary if the industry and its farmers hope to have a role in the burgeoning sustainable aviation fuel market, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. Three CCS pipelines that would transport and store captured carbon from ethanol plants in an effort […] Read more
Research makes case for SuperU
Farmers have balked at cost of enhanced efficiency fertilizer, but reduced applications shown to work
David Rourke is committed to cutting greenhouse gas emissions from crop production. So much so, he’s working on a PhD thesis at the University of Manitoba, focusing on how Canadian grain farmers can help with the climate crisis. Nonetheless, Rourke doesn’t use enhanced efficiency fertilizers on his farm near Minto, Man. There’s a reason for […] Read more
Canada chided for letting ag policy fall behind
Report says regulatory framework won’t allow much to happen on climate change and in some cases works against it
If Canada hopes to achieve its agricultural potential, it will need to at least keep up with American and other competitors who are doing much more to support their farmers’ efforts. That’s one of the main conclusions of the New Ag Deal: Four Policy Transitions for a Climate Smart Food Powerhouse, a report written by […] Read more
Farmer pursues PhD with sustainability research
David Rourke, a 67-year-old grain farmer from Minto, Man., made it clear he’s not in competition with his mother, but he’s obviously cut from a similar cloth. After earning a master’s degree in education and then a master’s degree in nursing, Rourke’s mom went back to school in her 50s to pursue a PhD in […] Read more
Sask. ag emissions double: NFU report
A comprehensive look at Saskatchewan’s agricultural greenhouse gas emissions shows they have doubled in the last 30 years. The report by National Farmers Union policy assistant John Mills found emissions were 11.1 million tonnes per year in 1990 and 22 million tonnes in 2021. Rising emissions from nitrogen fertilizer production use are a main contributor, […] Read more
Farmers make case for science-based policy
From the European Union to Mexico, producers push back against gov’t policies they say do not make scientific sense
CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — Farmers from across Europe and North America are pushing back against government policies they say are not science-based. Lloyd C. Day, deputy director general of the Inter-American Institute for Co-operation on Agriculture, said farmers know that policies such as the European Union’s Farm to Fork initiative will not work. He said the […] Read more
Agriculture called only U.S. sector to reduce emissions
Head of Nutrien says the industry must embrace innovation, collaboration and acceleration to continue making progress
The agriculture sector is making strides in reducing its carbon footprint, says the head of the world’s largest fertilizer company. In the United States, overall greenhouse gas emissions increased by 5.2 percent between 2020 and 2021, according to an annual report produced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Agricultural emissions dropped by 0.2 percent over […] Read more
Producers can select for methane-efficient cows
Long-term genetic selection would be less of an impediment to dairy farmers than cuts to fertilizer use or manure capacity
A world-leading approach to creating a methane-specific breeding index has been developed by Lactanet. Not content to wait until “sniffer” technology for measuring bovine methane emissions eventually becomes more affordable, the Canadian dairy data collection and genetics analysis organization developed the index based on milk samples. “Canada will be the first country globally to offer […] Read more
