Jon Foley: Agriculture turns out to be one of the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases. About 30% of all of our greenhouse gases come from either clearing land or farming land we already have. That’s more than the entire world’s electricity. It’s more than the entire world’s transportation.
Jon Foley is director of the Institute on the Environment at the University of Minnesota. Using a NASA satellite, Foley’s been conducting a large-scale global analysis of agriculture’s impact on the environment.
Jon Foley: It’s also the single biggest user of water in the world by a long shot. So a lot of our declining water resources and water problems are also linked mainly to irrigation.
Foley described some of the most visible environmental damage as occurring in the Midwestern United States, with its intensive commercial production of food staples like corn and soybeans. He also indicated that there’s rapid environmental change occurring in nations like Brazil and Indonesia, where forests are being stripped to make way for farms.
Jon Foley: Let’s freeze the footprint of agriculture. How do we figure out ways to incentivize people to not tear down rainforests? Instead, let’s boost yields on the farms we’ve got.
Foley believes that, in order to do this, farmers around the world could combine the best aspects of organic and industrial farming practices. That might mean, for example, providing nutrients and water to crops with more precision and better timing, as well as using more integrated approaches to managing pests and diseases. Foley added that he doesn’t believe that organic agriculture alone can feed the entire planet.
Jon Foley: Organic agriculture is much less than one percent of the world’s food supply and it’s mostly sold to rich Americans and Europeans who shop at places like Whole Foods. It’s not combating hunger in the world at all. It’s boutique food. Basically 80% of the world’s calories come from eight cereal crops like rice, wheat, millet, sorghum, etc. Nobody has figured out how to grow those economically with organic techniques. Those are vast huge fields, where mechanized agriculture is the only way to go.
Very true Dr. Foley. I work with organic and conventional farmers as a consultant. Working the soil in the organic systems for weed control is not good on the soil structure and tilth. No-till to greatly reduced till on conventional cropping systems increases the tilth and sequesters CO2 much better. We are getting much better at using pesticides only when needed, reducing overall irrigation needs for the crops, and improving the soil resources.
At last someone with some active brain cells. Every Chemist knows that CO2 gas is given off by each molecule of glucose. I guess most Biologist and enviromentalist forget this fact or it maybe “On Purpose”. Plants & trees around the world must consume millions of tons of glucose per day to live and be productive. Not to mention the millions of tons produced by animal life!
I don’t think that Jon Foley is suggesting here that plants themselves are the cause of high CO2 emissions – rather it’s the practice of farming and clearing land that is contributing to emissions. Retaining the trees is beneficial!
I do not agree with the comments of Dr John Foley and We have also measured green house emissions from Indian farming practices and most of the times the straw is being recycled as fodder for animals, which is common practice in Rural India. Hence, there is no emission of even smoke from straw in India
Secondly, the emission from Paddy fields was also very low as compared to WRI reportings about Indian green house gas emissions
In countries where biodiversity is being threatened by intensive farming practices it is vital to reform agriculture. In Colombia, for example, there is a significant yearly loss in tropical rainforest. Even old-growth forests are now being hacked away to allow for beef cattle to graze. The loss in biodiversity is often irreparable, reforestation can help to mitigate climate change effect.
I have come to believe many farmers here would willingly reform if they were educated on the issue and given some small incentive. To be clear this information must be from trusted sources. Since so many multinational conglomerates have victimized these lands and people it is vital to begin local grassroots organizations, possibly in metro areas or universities. These activists can work as a line of communication to the rural and distressed areas.
My queston: what is to the solution to over-grazing? What alternatives exist and what are the incentives for change?