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Read The Latest Myth-crusher On Greenhouse Gases Caused By Ag

published: December 8th 2011
source: The National Provisioner

The American Meat Science Association (AMSA) and the American Meat Institute (AMI) have just launched the fourth installment of seven new myth-crushing videos which aims to set the record straight about myths associated with the environmental impact of meat production.

The video, featuring Judith Capper, Ph.D., associate professor, department of animal sciences, Washington State University, corrects an oft cited-but erroneous quote from a 2006 United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) study claiming: “Livestock are responsible for 18 percent of greenhouses gases, a bigger share than transport.”

This error went largely unchallenged for several years until Frank Mitloehner, Ph.D., at the University of California Davis, examined the FAO claim and discovered the calculation was based on an unequal application of lifecycle assessments The livestock sector’s true contribution to GHG emissions is slightly more than three percent, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

“Beef has made an incredible contribution over the last 30 years,” Capper noted. “Advances in management, nutrition, genetics, health and welfare - all of these things have made our farms more productive, more efficient. We’ve cut the total carbon footprint per pound of beef by 18 percent.”

Dr. Capper added that all animal agriculture contributes just 3.4% of the total greenhouse gasses and cattle are responsible for only 2.7%.

Watch her video at http://bit.ly/tHP7oa.