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Week 9 – The role of Agriculture in Climate Mitigation Balance between feeding the human population and maintaining the environment Green revolution – in last 60 years, crop production increased by 40%, animal production by 90% but population only grew by 30%. Intensification and crop specialisati...

Week 9 – The role of Agriculture in Climate Mitigation Balance between feeding the human population and maintaining the environment Green revolution – in last 60 years, crop production increased by 40%, animal production by 90% but population only grew by 30%. Intensification and crop specialisation allowed us to do this on 10% less land Most produced cereal is corn 48% of cereal were for animal feed and 35% was for human food in the UK There is a rising demand for meat products globally, especially poultry, as well as problems of malnutrition – 795 million people are hungry bur 1.9 billion people are obese Self-sufficiency – maximising use of own resources, could make imports cheaper and better quality Food waste – value of wood waste is around 19 billion a year which is equivalent to 25 million tonnes of GHG emissions There is a disconnect between farming food and consumption Over reliance on soy – 76% is used for animal feed, 20% for human food and 4% for industry Sources of plant protein – soya, rapeseed, sunflower, cotton seed, linseed, sesame, coconut, groundnut, peas, beans, chickpeas Animal protein – whey, fish meal, bone meal Broiler requirements Mitigation methods Nutrition – type of food, efficiency of conversion, use of by-products, use of additives, alternative protein sources Influences on methane – silage type Improvements in digestibility and increased in milk yield Concentrates Feeding cattle concentrates is a CH4 mitigation strategy Unsaturated fatty acids and methane Fat is a binder of hydrogen and inhibits activity. Unsaturated fatty acids lower methane by 40% Feed additives and methane Seaweed Herbs and oils Genetics Trait Definition Strength Weakness Methane Production Methane production per day (g/d or L/d) Clean trait to be improved Highly correlated with feed intake and production level Methane Intensity Methane production related to output (e.g. per kg of milk or liveweight) Phenotype of interest for user This is a ratio trait, selection can be difficult to incorporate Methane Yield Methane production related to input (kg of DMI) Phenotype of interest for user This is a ratio trait, selection can be difficult to incorporate Residual Methane Production Observed methane production minus predicted methane production Good statistical properties, corrected for traits that influence methane production Can be difficult to explain to users Individual animal effects Factors affecting CH4 on dairy cattle: Bodyweight Milk Yield Parity Week of lactation ME requirements The role of the producer Actions being taken by the producer Recycling waste materials from the farm Improving energy efficiency Improving nitrogen feed efficiency Increasing use of clover in grassland Approaches to reduce emissions: Regenerative agriculture Based on processes e.g. cover crops, livestock integration or reduced tillage, outcomes e.g. soil health improved, sequestered carbon OR combinations of both (Newton et al. 2020) “‘regenerative' … practices such as cover cropping, crop rotation, reduced tillage and biological pest control, in addition to minimizing the use of chemical inputs to manage pests and maintain soil fertility.” (Schoolman 2019) Feeding insect protein to replace fish and soybean meal Intercropping Process involves cultivating two or more crops in the same field simultaneously Biodiversity Enhancing and increasing hedgerows could deliver GHG savings of up to 0.5 MtCO2e per year Increasing farmland woodland could deliver GHG savings of 0.7 MtCO2e per year Use of renewables Sources: biomass, anaerobic digester, biofuels, heat pump, wind, solar Boosting the bioeconomy could deliver estimated GHG savings of up to 26 MtCO2e per year Use of technology Precision farming Use of drones Senesors to measure methane and ammonia emissions GPS

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