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July
20, 2023
By Rae Solomon
Agriculture industry takes steps to reduce methane, a
potent greenhouse gas
The biggest source of climate-warming methane
in the U.S. is animal agriculture. America's biggest cattle feedlot
operator is funding new research, with motives beyond reducing
greenhouse gases.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
The agriculture industry has generally been
hostile towards addressing human-caused climate change, but now it's
partnering with a research project in Colorado aimed at reining in
methane, a type of climate-warming pollution. KUNC's Rae Solomon
reports.
RAE SOLOMON, BYLINE:
At first glance, the livestock pens at Colorado State University's AgNext
program are a lot like your standard cattle feedlot. There are cows,
plenty of mud underfoot and, of course, the ever-present stench. But
this operation isn't just a feedlot. It's a scientific laboratory
where researchers are learning about the greenhouse gases cows produce
as they stand around digesting food. It's tricked out with millions of
dollars of equipment, like this GreenFeed contraption - a kind of
high-tech gumball machine dispensing tasty cow treats.
SARA PLACE: There's an animal in
there right now. He's got his head stuck in the machine, and he's
chowing down a little bit of a snack.
SOLOMON: Sara Place is the animal sciences
professor who oversees the work. Despite what you may have heard, most
methane comes out of the cow's front end - not the rear. So each time
an animal gets a snack, it's an opportunity for Place to get
information.
PLACE: The air gets pulled from around the animal's
face, and whatever they're respiring out goes directly into the
machine. And we can get real-time methane emissions data from that.
SOLOMON: Climate experts warn we're running out of time
to cut greenhouse gases, like the methane these cows exhale as they
digest, which is what this research is all about.
PLACE: We want to find solutions that can help mitigate
those emissions to cut the climate impact of beef.
SOLOMON: But so far, less than 2% of federal funding for
research into climate mitigation in agriculture supports this type of
work. So scientists have forged an unlikely partnership in their
efforts to clean up the cattle industry.
TOM MCDONALD: We can feed at one time about 900,000 head
of cattle.
SOLOMON: Tom McDonald is with Five Rivers Cattle Feeding
- the world's biggest feedlot operation. Cows come to them to get
fattened up before slaughter. With 13 of those feedlots across six
Western states, Five Rivers is the picture of industrial animal
agriculture. And yet, when the climate researchers came calling, they
were interested.
MCDONALD: One of the biggest expenses for a research
institution like that is just owning the cattle. And so we help them
by providing cattle for their research - feed for their research.
SOLOMON: They also donated equipment - to the tune of
$600,000.
MCDONALD: The whole goal here is to learn what our
greenhouse gas footprint is and then how can we improve it.
SOLOMON: But if anyone doubts the sincerity of the
cattle industry's interest in climate action, McDonald points out the
donations aren't entirely altruistic. They expect a great return on
that investment. When you're in the cattle-feeding business, after
all, methane isn't just a greenhouse gas.
MCDONALD: Methane is energy.
SOLOMON: Methane emissions are calories lost to the
atmosphere - calories that could stick to a cow's ribs and become
beef. So if the company can cut down on the methane a cow exhales,
they'll ultimately have more product to sell.
MCDONALD: The cattle-feeding industry is about
efficiency. From a cattle performance standpoint, we utilize the tools
available to help the cattle grow faster, gain faster.
SOLOMON: McDonald calls it a win-win for the environment
and industry. But for all the cooperation, the research is still very
young, which Ben Lilliston says is a problem, given the urgency of
human-caused climate change.
BEN LILLISTON: Speculative technologies - you know, it's
not to say that they're not worth exploring, but would not rely on
them as a real climate mitigation strategy.
SOLOMON: Lilliston is with the Institute for Agriculture
and Trade Policy, a think tank in the climate and ag space. And he
says there's a more immediate solution - raise fewer cows.
LILLISTON: Reducing the cattle herd is the clearest way
to reduce actual emissions.
SOLOMON: That would mean less meat and dairy on the
market. For researchers like Sara Place, that's not workable.
PLACE: At the end of the day, we want to make sure we
create practical solutions that could be adopted in the real world.
SOLOMON: After all, people like to eat beef, and it just
might be easier to tinker with the inner workings of an animal's gut
than it is to change the cravings of a hungry planet.
For NPR News, I'm Rae Solomon.
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