Abstract
The farm animal sector is the single largest anthropogenic user of land, contributing to many environmental problems, including global warming and climate change.
Generated Summary
This commentary synthesizes and expands upon existing data to examine the contribution of farm animal production to climate change. The study analyzes the scientific literature on farm animal production, focusing on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and mitigation strategies. It broadens the scope to encompass the entire production process, including animal rearing, feed production, waste management, water use, and transportation. The research emphasizes the critical need for immediate changes in agricultural practices and consumption patterns to mitigate GHGs from the farm animal sector. The study is based on various reports from organizations like the IPCC, U.S. EPA, and studies on GHGs from agriculture and mitigation strategies. The objective is to outline the animal agriculture sector’s share of global GHG emissions.
Key Findings & Statistics
- The farm animal sector is the single largest anthropogenic user of land.
- The three main GHGs are CO2, methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O).
- CH4 has a GWP of 23, and N2O has a GWP of 296.
- The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC 2007c) predicts increases of 1.8–3.9°C (3.2–7.1°F) by 2100.
- The rate of increase in temperature rises has tripled since the mid-1970s.
- The animal agriculture sector emits 18%, or nearly one-fifth, of human-induced GHG emissions, more than the transportation sector.
- Globally, approximately 56 billion land animals are reared and slaughtered annually.
- Livestock inventories are expected to double by 2050.
- The animal agriculture sector accounts for approximately 9% of total CO2 emissions.
- Burning fossil fuels to produce fertilizers for feed crops may emit 41 million metric tons of CO2 per year.
- An additional 90 million metric tons of CO2 per year may be emitted by fossil fuels expended for intensive confinement operations.
- Processing 1 kg of beef requires 4.37 mega-joules (MJ), or 1.21 kilowatt-hours, and processing 1 dozen eggs requires > 6 MJ, or 1.66 kilowatt-hours
- 1 kg of beef may result in GHGs equivalent to 36.4 kg of CO2.
- Approximately 0.8 million metric tons of CO2 are emitted annually from the transportation of feed and animal products.
- Animal agriculture is a significant catalyst for the conversion of wooded areas to grazing land or cropland for feed production, which may emit 2.4 billion metric tons of CO2 annually as a result of deforestation
- The FAO found that the animal agriculture sector emits 18%, or nearly one-fifth, of human-induced GHG emissions, more than the transportation sector. (Steinfeld et al. 2006).
- Farm animal production also results in releases of up to 28 million metric tons of CO2/year from cultivated soils (Steinfeld et al. 2006).
- Desertification of pastures due to animal agriculture is responsible for up to 100 million metric tons of CO2 emissions annually.
- Feeding the global population of livestock requires at least 80% of the world’s soybean crop and more than one-half of all corn
- The animal agriculture sector is also responsible for 35-40% of annual anthropogenic methane emissions (Steinfeld et al. 2006).
- Enteric fermentation generates approximately 86 million metric tons of methane emissions worldwide (Steinfeld et al. 2006).
- Farm animals produce billions of tons of manure, with confined farm animals in the United States alone generating approximately 500 million tons of solid and liquid waste annually
- Farm animal manure is the source of almost 18 million metric tons of annual methane emissions (Steinfeld et al. 2006).
- Between 1990 and 2005 in the United States, methane emissions from dairy cow and pig manure rose by 50% and 37%, respectively
- Although 70% of anthropogenic emissions of N2O result from crop and animal agriculture combined, farm animal production, including growing feed crops, accounts for 65% of global N2O emissions.
- In the United States, a 10% rise in N2O emissions between 1990 and 2005 can be traced, in part, to changes in the poultry industry.
- By 2020, up to 250 million people may experience water shortages.
- By 2050—the same year by which the FAO projects that meat and dairy production will double from present levels, primarily in the developing world (Steinfeld et al. 2006)-130 million people in Asia may suffer from climate-change-related food shortages
- Organic farming has the potential to reduce GHG emissions and sequester carbon (IFOAM 2004).
Other Important Findings
- The Abstract states that the farm animal sector is the single largest anthropogenic user of land, contributing to many environmental problems, including global warming and climate change.
- The aim of the study was to synthesize and expand upon existing data on the contribution of farm animal production to climate change.
- The study analyzed the scientific literature on farm animal production and documented greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, as well as various mitigation strategies.
- Immediate and far-reaching changes in current animal agriculture practices and consumption patterns are both critical and timely if GHGs from the farm animal sector are to be mitigated.
- The three main GHGs are CO2, methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O).
- Although much evidence has been amassed on the negative impacts of animal agricultural production on environmental integrity, community sustainability, public health, and animal welfare, the global impacts of this sector have remained largely underestimated and underappreciated.
- The IPCC (2007a) concluded with high confidence that anthropogenic warming over the last three decades has had a discernible influence on many physical and biological systems.
- Livestock’s Long Shadow: Environmental Issues and Options [Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) 2006], highlighted the substantial role of the farm animal production sector, identifying it as “a major threat to the environment” (FAO 2006).
- In recent years, industrial livestock production has grown at twice the rate of more traditional mixed farming systems and at more than six times the rate of production based on grazing.
- Confining greater numbers of animals indoors and further separating production operations from agricultural land will only exacerbate the environmental problems already posed by this sector.
- The animal agriculture sector accounts for approximately 9% of total CO2 emissions, which are primarily the result of fertilizer production for feed crops, on-farm energy expenditures, feed transport, animal product processing and transport, and land use changes (Steinfeld et al. 2006).
- Energy uses in these industrial facilities differ substantially from those in smaller-scale, extensive, or pasture-based farms.
- The changes to the nitrogen cycle are larger in magnitude and more profound than the changes to the carbon cycle.
- Experts anticipate even greater increases in the intensity and prevalence of these changes as the 21st century brings rises in GHG emissions.
- GHG emissions from livestock are inherently tied to livestock population sizes because the livestock are either directly or indirectly the source for the emissions.
- Confining greater numbers of animals indoors and further separating production operations from agricultural land will only exacerbate the environmental problems already posed by this sector, which the FAO has deemed “one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global”
- As consumers increasingly favor more environmentally friendly products and techniques, reducing consumption of meat, eggs, and milk, as well as choosing more sustainably produced animal products.
Limitations Noted in the Document
- The study primarily relies on existing data and literature, which may have limitations in terms of data availability, quality, and consistency.
- The analysis focuses on the farm animal sector, and does not necessarily address the broader impacts of the entire food system.
- The study acknowledges that the environmental impacts of animal agriculture require immediate and substantial changes in regulation, production practices, and consumption patterns, but specific recommendations are not provided.
- The study notes the need for more research regarding both technical and less technology-dependent strategies to record existing GHG emissions from individual production facilities and to provide lessons to producers and policy makers for reducing the climate-damaging impacts of animal agriculture.
Conclusion
The study underscores the substantial contribution of the farm animal sector to climate change, emphasizing that it is a major driver of environmental problems, including global warming. The analysis highlights the critical need for immediate and far-reaching changes in current animal agriculture practices and consumption patterns. The document emphasizes that the impacts of animal agriculture require that governments, international organizations, producers, and consumers focus more attention on the role played by meat, egg, and dairy production. The study indicates that the environmental impacts of animal agriculture are significant and require urgent action across various sectors. Furthermore, the study emphasizes the necessity of addressing the environmental impacts of animal agriculture through immediate and substantial changes in regulation, production practices, and consumption patterns. The analysis indicates that the environmental impacts of animal agriculture are significant and require urgent action across various sectors. The study’s findings also suggest that individual consumers must also participate in mitigating the climate change impacts, through recommendations to reduce meat and milk intake by high-income countries. The research supports that the impacts of animal agriculture on climate change cannot be viewed in a vacuum, linking these effects to various global challenges such as conflict, hunger, and disease. This study suggests that the environmental impacts of animal agriculture are significant and require urgent action across various sectors.The study concludes that addressing the environmental harms caused by the sector requires immediate and substantial changes in regulation, production practices, and consumption patterns. “Greenhouse-gas emissions from meat-eating warrant the same scrutiny as do those from driving and flying.”
IFFS Team Summary
- Article provided as a historical references
- We can contrast the numbers of animals and GHG emissions and predictions from 2008 with current calculations
- The article shows that there were there is over a decade of attention on the matter of climate change and animal agriculture
- Provides a good introduction to the mechanisms by which animal agriculture causes CO2 CH4 and N2O emissions