Ten years is enough for methane credits on manure digesters, says analyst
The California Air Resources Board (CARB), which oversees the state's low-carbon fuel program, is considering a change in rules for the manure digesters on dairy farms that prevent methane emissions by capturing it for use as a transportation fuel. The digesters are eligible for up to 30 years of prevented-methane credits at present. CARB has proposed a reduction to 20 years for digesters built by 2030.
Ethanol and oil industries decry new fuel economy standards
Gas and biofuel trade groups say new Biden administration rules that call for cars and pickup trucks to average 50.4 miles per gallon of fuel by 2031 unwisely quash the potential role of liquid fuels. The American Petroleum Institute said Congress should override the new corporate average …
EPA calls for lower-polluting buses and heavy trucks
Manufacturers of heavy-duty trucks and buses will be required to produce vehicles that reduce greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 60 percent by model year 2032 under a new EPA regulation. The agency said a variety of technologies can be used by truck makers to meet the tailpipe emissions target, from cleaner-burning internal combustion engines to hybrids, electric vehicles, and hydrogen fuel cells.
Pennsylvania dairies put the notion of climate-smart milk to the test
The U.S. dairy industry is aiming to go greenhouse gas neutral by 2050. Researchers have many ideas to help get them there — from feed additives that minimize methane-filled cow burps to new timing for fertilizer applications. But there’s little data on how well many of these strategies work on actual dairies with varying environmental conditions. (No paywall)
At COP28, 134 nations agree agriculture ‘must urgently … transform’
More than two-thirds of the nations in the world, representing 5.7 billion people and 70 percent of global food production, signed a declaration at the UN climate summit assigning agriculture and food systems a role in combatting global warming. It was the first such linkage of food and climate action and while it was applauded, the praise was salted with "show me" skepticism.
Greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture grew 14 percent in 20 years
Livestock accounted for slightly more than half of the 14 percent increase in global greenhouse gas emissions by agriculture from 2000 to 2021, said a Food and Agriculture Organization report on Wednesday. The carbon footprint of cattle and sheep was several times higher than the footprint for pigs, chickens, and dairy, when calculated per kilogram of product, said the FAO’s Statistical Yearbook, released on the eve of the UN climate summit.
FERN talks COP28 and food-system reform with World Wildlife Fund
The next UN Climate Change Conference, COP28, opens on Thursday in Dubai. This year, food systems issues will play a more central role in the negotiations than ever before, with a day of the conference devoted to food, for the first time.Food and agriculture account for roughly one-third of …
Navigator cancels Midwest carbon pipeline
Navigator CO2 said it canceled its 1,350-mile carbon pipeline because of "unpredictable ... regulatory and government processes" in the five Midwestern states the pipeline would cross. The Heartland Greenway pipeline was among three projects proposed to capture carbon dioxide, mainly from ethanol plants, and transport it through pipelines for injection thousands of feet underground.
USDA seeks precision in measuring greenhouse gases and carbon reductions
As part of President Biden's goal to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in half by the end of the decade, the USDA will spend $300 million to more accurately measure and verify GHG emissions and carbon sequestration by climate-smart agriculture, said the White House on Wednesday. Climate adviser Ali Zaidi said the project would help "the people on the front lines of the climate crisis to be part of the solution."
USDA awards $325 million to second round of climate-smart projects
The Biden administration will put $325 million into an additional 71 projects to develop climate-smart commodities and a money-making market for them, announced Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Monday. The initiative is part of President Biden's goal to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 and for American agriculture to be first in the world to achieve net-zero emissions.
Minnesota’s new climate plan asks farmers to change how they farm
Anne Schwagerl would love to purchase an interseeder, a machine that plants cover crop seeds directly into a field where another crop like soybeans is already growing. But she and her husband, who grow a variety of grains on 400 acres in western Minnesota, can't afford the $80,000 price tag. So she was happy when the state legislature recently approved a cost-share program to help farmers to purchase such equipment.
Biogas incentives favor factory farms, critics say
Manure digesters are among the best-known ways for feedlots and dairy farms to capture greenhouse gas emissions and, in some cases, sell biomethane as a fuel. The climate, healthcare, and tax law signed this week by President Biden offers a new incentive to the biogas industry at the same time that the environmental credentials of on-farm digesters are being questioned.
USDA to put $1 billion into climate-smart pilot projects
The USDA will spend $1 billion on climate-smart pilot projects, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced on Monday, delivering on a pledge made last September to help farmers develop a market for sustainably produced commodities. The demonstration projects could change the shape of U.S. farm policy, but the clock already is ticking toward the 2023 farm bill and funding for climate mitigation is not certain.
The new California gold rush into anaerobic digesters
There's money in manure for California dairy farmers with anaerobic digesters that capture methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from their cattle's manure. Each cow on a farm with a digester can generate $2,827 a year in air pollution and biofuel credits for methane that would otherwise go into the atmosphere, calculated Aaron Smith, a professor at UC-Davis.
World Bank sees gains for climate and economy if ag policies are revised
If governments encourage climate-smart farming, they would see an increase in agricultural productivity and a sizable reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by agriculture, said a report by the World Bank and the IFPRI think tank on Wednesday. The report advocates a "repurposing" of agriculture policies and subsidies.
Report: Food-system change ‘startlingly absent’ from countries’ climate change commitments
Food systems account for roughly a third of global greenhouse emissions worldwide, yet a new analysis finds that strategies to reform how food is grown, processed and consumed are “startlingly absent” from most countries’ plans to tackle climate change. (No paywall)
Less food, more wildfires in North America with climate change
Global warming "is causing dangerous and widespread disruptions in nature and affecting the lives of billions of people around the world," said a UN climate change report on Monday. Hotter weather and shifts in rainfall are likely to reduce food production in North America and are a risk to food security, said a fact sheet on climate change's impacts on the continent.
California isn’t going green fast enough to meet goals
California’s getting greener, but it needs to pick up the pace. The state won’t meet its 2030 emissions goals until 2050 unless it takes aggressive action, according to a recent report by the nonprofit Next 10 called the 2021 California Green Innovation Index.
Agriculture emerges from COP26 with focus on methane and innovation
The USDA would work with farmers to reduce agricultural emissions of methane, said the White House in describing the domestic impact of the UN climate summit in Scotland. The United States also is a leader in the Agricultural Innovation Mission for Climate, designed to accelerate breakthroughs in climate-smart farm production.