Earth Day: Ag’s Success in Greenhouse Gas Emissions

WASHINGTON: The Environmental Protection Agency just released new data on greenhouse gas emissions. The latest Annual Greenhouse Gas Inventory Report from the Environmental Protection Agency shows a sector by sector look at emissions. As we celebrate Earth Day, Farm Bureau Economist Shelby Myers says the report includes good news for agriculture.

“They just finalized their newest report. And for agriculture, we stayed relatively neutral compared to last year. And U.S. agriculture greenhouse gas emissions contribute just 10.2 percent overall compared to some of the other economic sectors, like transportation, electricity, industry, commercial and residential,” said Myers.

Myers says it’s all about the conservation efforts made by farmers and ranchers.

“We’re actively trying to make our footprint even smaller, converting waste into energy, applying conservation and working lands programs into our everyday cropping system, and really utilizing the tools at hand to work on things like carbon sequestration. And if you look over the last 70 years, U.S. farms have nearly tripled in production, but the number of resources we put into that like land, energy, and fertilizer have remained nearly stable,” said Myers.

And it’s important farmers and ranchers make sure others know about their stewardship success.

We’ve been doing such great work over the last 100 plus years in our ability to conserve resources and produce food. And so, continue to tell our story, talk about the improvements that we’ve made through innovation and technology and how it’s contributed to reducing our emissions and reducing our overall environmental footprint,” said Myers.

American Farmers, not only the best farmers in the world but good stewards of the land.