Animal Agriculture’s Contribution to Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Outline

• U.S. inventory of greenhouse gases

• Carbon Footprint - Life Cycle Assessment

• How they are calculated

• Why they vary

• How they are used

US Greenhouse Gas Emissions

EPA 2013

Agriculture Sources

Energy use15%

Enteric fermenta-tion28%

Manure management14%Rice cultivation

1%

Cropland soils30%

Grassland soils12%

Adapted from Archibeque, S. et al., 2012.

Animal Agriculture GHG Emissions

USDA 2011

HOW DO WE FIND A CARBON FOOTPRINT?

Life Cycle Analysis (LCA)

What is a carbon footprint?

• Total GHG emissions for a given person, place, event, or product

• Created using a Life Cycle Analysis (LCA)"Compilation and evaluation of the inputs, outputs and the

potential environmental impacts of a product system throughout its life cycle“ (ISO 2006)

• Extraction and treatment of raw materials• Product manufacturing• Transport and distribution• Product use• End of life

ISO 2006

How a carbon footprint is created:Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)

Not all analysis come up with the same “answer”…

0.7 1.0 1.35 2.05

WHY DO FOOTPRINTS VARY?

Boundaries• Boundary definition

• Cradle – to – grave• EPA: only manure management• Cradle – to – farm gate

Manure

GHGs

Inputs

GHGsGHGs

GHGsGHGs

Use & Disposal

GHGs

Thoma et al. 2012

Assumptions

“Generic” Dairy Carbon

Footprint

Units

Capper 2009

Per cow Per gallon of milk

• Per cow• Per gallon (kg) of milk• Per gallon (kg) of energy corrected milk (ECM)

• Fat and protein

HOW ARE FOOTPRINTS USED?

Pork Carbon Footprint Thoma et al. 2011

Supply Chain Analysis

Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy 2010

Supply Chain Analysis

Geographical Comparisons

Regional Dairy Carbon Footprints Thoma et al. 2012

Historical comparisons

dairy beef0

5

10

15

20

251944/19772007

kg

CO2

eq/

kg p

rodu

ct

Capper et al. 2009, 2011

Product Comparisons

EWG 2011

Benbrook et al. 2010

Intensive + rBST Conventional Intensive, Organic Grass-based, Jersey

-1.66533453693773E-16

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

1.2

ManureEnteric

kg C

O2e

q /k

g EC

M

Systems comparisons

Dairy Type

Management comparisons

slurry open storage enclosed storage anaerobic digester

0

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

0.3

0.35

0.4

0.45

kg C

O2

eq/

kg E

CM

Rotz 2010

no-till solids separation, tillage incorporation

Dairy Manure Management options

Available Carbon Footprint Tools

• DairyGEM – Gas Emissions Model• Basic tool to evaluate feed and manure management

options• http://www.ars.usda.gov/Main/docs.htm?

docid=21345

• Shades of Green (SOG) Dairy Calculator• More advanced tool looks at feed, manure, fertility,

health, and economic return, multiple environmental factors, currently only methane

• http://www.organic-center.org/sog.download.html

More Carbon Footprint Tools

• Live Swine Carbon Footprint Calculator• http://www.pork.org/Resources/1220/

CarbonFootprintCalculatorHomepage.aspx#.UHg2K66s971

• Poultry Carbon Footprint Estimation Toolkit• https://www.uspoultry.org/uspforms/cdrom/CarbonFootprint/start.cfm

• Cool Farm Tool• All species• Includes emissions from fields, inputs, livestock, land use and land use

change and primary processing• http://www.unilever.com/aboutus/supplier/sustainablesourcing/tools

Outline

• U.S. inventory of greenhouse gases

• Carbon Footprint - Life Cycle Assessment

• How they are calculated

• Why they vary

• How they are used

For a full list of references cited in this presentation, please visit:

www.animalagclimatechange.org

This project was supported by Agricultural and Food Research Initiative Competitive Grant No. 2011-67003-

30206 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

Graphic SourcesU.S. EPA. 2013. “Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-2011.”

Archibeque et al., 2012. “Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Opportunities for Livestock Management in the United States.”

USDA. 2011. U.S. Agriculture and Forestry Greenhouse Gas Inventory: 1990-2008.

ISO 14040:2006. Environmental management - Life cycle assessment - Principles and framework

Graphic SourcesU.S. EPA. 2010. “Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-2008”UN-FAO 2010. “Greenhouse Gas Emissions from the Dairy Sector: A Life Cycle Assessment”Capper, J. L., R. A. Cady and D. E. Bauman (2009) “The Environmental Impact of Dairy Production, 1944 vs 2007.” J. An Sci. 2009.87:2160-2167Thoma et al. 2010. ”Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Fluid Milk in the U.S.”

Thoma et al. 2012. International Dairy Journal (2012) 1-12“Greenhouse gas emissions from milk production and consumption in the United States: A cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment circa 2008”

Capper, J. L., R. A. Cady and D. E. Bauman (2009) “The Environmental Impact of Dairy Production, 1944 vs 2007.” J. An Sci. 2009.87:2160-2167

Thoma et al. 2011. “National Life Cycle Carbon Footprint Study for Production of US Swine.”

Graphic Sources

Capper, J. L., R. A. Cady and D. E. Bauman. 2009. “The Environmental Impact of Dairy Production, 1944 vs 2007.” J. An Sci. 2009.87:2160-2167Capper, J.L. 2011. “The environmental impact of beef production in the United States: 1977 compared with 2007.” J. An Sci. 2011.89:4249-4261

Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy. 2010. “Greenhouse Gas LCA for Fluid Milk”

Thoma et al. 2012. “Regional analysis of greenhouse gas emissions from USA dairy farms: A cradle to farm-gate assessment of the American dairy industry circa 2008”

Graphic Sources

Environmental Working Group. 2011. “Meat Eater’s Guide to Climate Change + Health”

Benbrook et al. 2010. “A Dairy Farm’s Footprint: Evaluating the Impacts of Conventional and Organic Farming Systems”

Rotz, C.A., Montes, F., Chianese, D.S. 2010. The carbon footprint of dairy production systems through partial life cycle assessment. Journal of Dairy Science. 93(3):1266-1282.