Greenhouse gas emissions from beef production continue to be a hot topic with a lot of focus on methane emissions from enteric fermentation. Reducing methane emissions is likely one of the mitigation strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the short term because of the short half-life of methane in the atmosphere; however, reducing enteric methane emissions may not be the most impactful in the long term.
A previous analysis evaluated regional differences in greenhouse gas emissions (Figure 1). This analysis indicated that due to differences in resources greenhouse gas emissions were not uniform across different regions of the US. The northeast, southeast, and midwest US had greater emissions than other regions.
The beef industry set a goal of climate neutrality by 2050 which will require approximately a 30% reduction in net greenhouse gas emissions. However, a specific path forward has been difficult to lay out as the many facets of beef production are not under the control of a single entity.
A recent analysis of beef greenhouse gas emissions evaluated several mitigation strategies (Figure 2). First, the study indicated that maximum reduction in greenhouse gas emissions will require a multifaceted approach using strategies in crop production, cow-calf and stocker cattle sectors, and feedlot and dairy sectors. Anaerobic digesters capture methane from decomposition of manure in dairies are beneficial but may have minimal impact on carbon footprint of beef even with the increase in beef being produced from beef x dairy calves. Restoring wetlands/riparian areas, using methane reducing feed additives, and adoption of adaptive multipaddock (AMP) grazing had similar effects on reducing greenhouse gas emissions from beef production. Incorporating legume cover crops and using variable rate fertilizer applications in corn production had the second largest effect on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, while converting introduced pastures to silvopasture had the largest effect.
Second, the recent analysis was conducted on a county level while still adjusting for the movement of cattle and feed across the country. An interesting outcome from the study was that the potential to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from beef production was not uniformly distributed across the US. The northern great plains provided a large impact through restoring wetlands in the Prairie Pothole. AMP grazing had the largest benefits in North and South Dakota, Missouri, and eastern Kansas and Texas. Cover crops and fertilizer management had the largest impacts in Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, and Minnesota. And the southeastern US had the greatest potential to reduce emissions through use of silvopasture.
Each region of the US contributes to beef’s carbon footprint differently, but each region has a unique contribution to mitigate emissions. Only collectively will the beef industry be able to meet the carbon reduction targets.