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2. The animal agriculture industry, US universities, and the obstruction of climate understanding and policy
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Morris, Viveca (author) and Jacquet, Jennifer (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2024-02-26
- Published:
- Netherlands: Springer Nature
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 209 Document Number: D13549
- Journal Title:
- Climatic Change
- Journal Title Details:
- 177 : Article 41
- Notes:
- 42 pages, The 2006 United Nations report “Livestock’s Long Shadow” provided the first global estimate of the livestock sector’s contribution to anthropogenic climate change and warned of dire environmental consequences if business as usual continued. In the subsequent 17 years, numerous studies have attributed significant climate change impacts to livestock. In the USA, one of the largest consumers and producers of meat and dairy products, livestock greenhouse gas emissions remain effectively unregulated. What might explain this? Similar to fossil fuel companies, US animal agriculture companies responded to evidence that their products cause climate change by minimizing their role in the climate crisis and shaping policymaking in their favor. Here, we show that the industry has done so with the help of university experts. The beef industry awarded funding to Dr. Frank Mitloehner from the University of California, Davis, to assess “Livestock’s Long Shadow,” and his work was used to claim that cows should not be blamed for climate change. The animal agriculture industry is now involved in multiple multi-million-dollar efforts with universities to obstruct unfavorable policies as well as influence climate change policy and discourse. Here, we traced how these efforts have downplayed the livestock sector’s contributions to the climate crisis, minimized the need for emission regulations and other policies aimed at internalizing the costs of the industry’s emissions, and promoted industry-led climate “solutions” that maintain production. We studied this phenomenon by examining the origins, funding sources, activities, and political significance of two prominent academic centers, the CLEAR Center at UC Davis, established in 2018, and AgNext at Colorado State University, established in 2020, as well as the influence and industry ties of the programs’ directors, Dr. Mitloehner and Dr. Kimberly Stackhouse-Lawson. We developed 20 questions to evaluate the nature, extent, and societal impacts of the relationship between individual researchers and industry groups. Using publicly available evidence, we documented how the ties between these professors, centers, and the animal agriculture industry have helped maintain the livestock industry’s social license to operate not only by generating industry-supported research, but also by supporting public relations and policy advocacy.
3. NCBA denounces Google's feature that misrepresents beef's environmental impact
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- National Cattlemen's Beef Association (author)
- Format:
- News release
- Publication Date:
- 2022-10-12
- Published:
- AgriMarketing
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 209 Document Number: D13505
- Notes:
- 1 page
4. Can regenerative agriculture increase national soil carbon stocks? Simulated country-scale adoption of reduced tillage, cover cropping, and ley-arable integration using RothC
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Jordon, Matthew W. (author), Smith, Pete (author), Long, Peter R. (author), Bürkner, Paul-Christian (author), Petrokofsky, Gillian (author), and Willis, Kathy J. (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2022-02-19
- Published:
- Interational: Elsevier
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 209 Document Number: D13485
- Journal Title:
- Science of The Total Environment
- Journal Title Details:
- 825 : 153955
- Notes:
- 9 pages, Adopting Regenerative Agriculture (RA) practices on temperate arable land can increase soil organic carbon (SOC) concentration without reducing crop yields. RA is therefore receiving much attention as a climate change mitigation strategy. However, estimating the potential change in national soil carbon stocks following adoption of RA practices is required to determine its suitability for this. Here, we use a well-validated model of soil carbon turnover (RothC) to simulate adoption of three regenerative practices (cover cropping, reduced tillage intensity and incorporation of a grass-based ley phase into arable rotations) across arable land in Great Britain (GB). We develop a modelling framework which calibrates RothC using studies of these measures from a recent systematic review, estimating the proportional increase in carbon inputs to the soil compared to conventional practice, before simulating adoption across GB. We find that cover cropping would on average increase SOC stocks by 10 t·ha−1 within 30 years of adoption across GB, potentially sequestering 6.5 megatonnes of carbon dioxide per year (MtCO2·y−1). Ley-arable systems could increase SOC stocks by 3 or 16 t·ha−1, potentially providing 2.2 or 10.6 MtCO2·y−1 of sequestration over 30 years, depending on the length of the ley-phase (one and four years, respectively, in these scenarios). In contrast, our modelling approach finds little change in soil carbon stocks when practising reduced tillage intensity. Our results indicate that adopting RA practices could make a meaningful contribution to GB agriculture reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions despite practical constraints to their uptake.
5. Options for reforming agricultural subsidies from health, climate, and economic perspectives
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Springmann, M. (author) and Freund, F. (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2022-01-10
- Published:
- USA: Springer Nature
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 205 Document Number: D12611
- Journal Title:
- Nature Communications
- Journal Title Details:
- V. 13, N.82
- Notes:
- 7pgs, Agricultural subsidies are an important factor for influencing food production and therefore part of a food system that is seen as neither healthy nor sustainable. Here we analyse options for reforming agricultural subsidies in line with health and climate-change objectives on one side, and economic objectives on the other. Using an integrated modelling framework including economic, environmental, and health assessments, we find that on a global scale several reform options could lead to reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and improvements in population health without reductions in economic welfare. Those include a repurposing of up to half of agricultural subsidies to support the production of foods with beneficial health and environmental characteristics, including fruits, vegetables, and other horticultural products, and combining such repurposing with a more equal distribution of subsidy payments globally. The findings suggest that reforming agricultural subsidy schemes based on health and climate-change objectives can be economically feasible and contribute to transitions towards healthy and sustainable food systems
6. Food waste is a growing problem in the U.S
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Shike, Jennifer (author)
- Format:
- Online article
- Publication Date:
- 2022-01-06
- Published:
- USA: AgWeb
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 207 Document Number: D13012
- Notes:
- 4 pages
7. Effect of the milking frequency on the concentrations of ammonia and greenhouse gases within an open dairy barn in hot climate conditions
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- D’Urso, Provvidenza Rita (author) and Arcidiacono, Claudia (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2021-08-17
- Published:
- Switzerland: MDPI
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Document Number: D12398
- Journal Title:
- Sustainability
- Journal Title Details:
- V. 13, N. 16
- Notes:
- 12 pages, Knowledge of how different management strategies affect gas production from livestock buildings can be helpful for emission predicting purposes and for defining mitigation strategies. The objective of this study was to statistically assess whether and how measured concentrations of ammonia (NH3), methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) were influenced by milking frequency. Concentrations of gases were measured continuously by using infrared photoacoustic spectroscopy in the breeding environment of an open dairy barn located in Sicily in hot climate conditions. Data were acquired by specific in-field experiments carried out in 2016 and 2018, when milking sessions occurred twice a day (2MSs) and three times a day (3MSs), respectively. The number of the milking cows was 64 in both 2MSs and 3MSs. The results showed that concentrations of NH3, CH4 and CO2 were statistically influenced by the number of milking sessions. From 2MSs to 3MSs, NH3 concentrations were enhanced (p < 0.001) due to the higher cow’s activity. Conversely, gas concentrations of CH4 and CO2 were lower for 3MSs compared to those for 2MSs due to the effect of the different feeding frequency. Overall, the milking frequency influenced barn management and cow behaviour by modifying the level of gas concentrations in the barn environment.
8. Starbucks plans to hold the milk
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Prater, Lisa Foust (author) and Successful Farming
- Format:
- Online news article
- Publication Date:
- 2020-01-22
- Published:
- United States: Meredith Agrimedia, Meredith Corporation
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 127 Document Number: D11236
- Notes:
- 4 pages, via online news publication Successful Farming
9. Chew on this: Farmers are using food waste to make electricity
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Aubrey, Allison (author) and National Public Radio (NPR)
- Format:
- Article/Audio Story
- Publication Date:
- 2019-11-30
- Published:
- United States: NPR
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 121 Document Number: D11125
- Notes:
- 7 pages, via website
10. How to get meat eaters to eat more plant-based foods? Make their mouths water
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Godoy, Maria (author)
- Format:
- Online article
- Publication Date:
- 2019-02-10
- Published:
- NPR: The Salt.
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 151 Document Number: D10125
- Notes:
- Via website.