Cattle- the cause or the cure?

[DaveGrohl]

New York Times today published an article. They're pretty convinced that cattle can help sort this carbon sequestration.

A Different Kind of Land Management: Let the Cows Stomp https://nyti.ms/37mefc4

As was said earlier, the issue seems to be more in the mindsets of those who wish to manage and have control.
The cattle themselves are not actually the problem.
"Biden administration, in its initial moves to combat climate change, has cited agriculture as a “linchpin” of its strategy. One idea is to allocate $1 billion to pay farmers $20 for each ton of carbon they trap in the soil.”

Yep, saw that, and the US press don't quite seem to have swallowed the vegan codswallop to the same extent as ours, prob because they love their beef over there. But I don't think putting the message across that grass faming can stop climate change in its tracks is going to do anyone any good, because no amount of natural sequestration is going to solve the fossil fuels already burnt and continuing to be burnt. Good to see farmers painted in a good light by a national newspaper though.

 

[bluebell]

to many people and more everyday is that the real problem ?

 

[JP1]

Cattle farming is terrible, so we must all self flagellate and eat pretend food to save the world:

Rich countries should only eat synthetic beef, says Bill Gates

The billionaire philanthropist made the demand while advertising his new book on how to avoid a climate disaster.

news.sky.com

Or, cattle are actually great, saving the planet whilst producing top quality, delicious real food:

How an Australian cattle rancher sold Microsoft $500,000 of carbon credits - Agriland.co.uk

Computing giant Microsoft has launched a new partnership with Australian farm Wilmot Cattle Company to use grazing cattle to offset Microsoft’s carbon

www.agriland.co.uk

I don’t know who’s more confused, me or Bill Gates??

I'll go with Alan Savory

 

[onesiedale]

Yep, saw that, and the US press don't quite seem to have swallowed the vegan codswallop to the same extent as ours, prob because they love their beef over there. But I don't think putting the message across that grass faming can stop climate change in its tracks is going to do anyone any good, because no amount of natural sequestration is going to solve the fossil fuels already burnt and conitnuing to be burnt. Good to see farmers painted in a good light by a national newspaper though.

I don't think the press over there are telling them that cows and grasslands will stop climate change, it's more that they are realising what massive potential grasslands have to help put things right. (As well as beef, they also love cars !).
Don't forget, grasslands have a water cycle too and in desert areas this is probably more important to climate cooling than carbon sequestration.

The other thing behind the US media message that I see is the realisation that the new Biden administration are likely to see farmland as an asset in the climate debate.

 

[snarling bee]

New York Times today published an article. They're pretty convinced that cattle can help sort this carbon sequestration.

A Different Kind of Land Management: Let the Cows Stomp https://nyti.ms/37mefc4

As was said earlier, the issue seems to be more in the mindsets of those who wish to manage and have control.
The cattle themselves are not actually the problem.
"Biden administration, in its initial moves to combat climate change, has cited agriculture as a “linchpin” of its strategy. One idea is to allocate $1 billion to pay farmers $20 for each ton of carbon they trap in the soil.”

Thats approx £300 for every 1% organic matter. Is that worth bothering with considering the effort required to get there? It would only work if you are doing it for other reasons. It could easily take 10 years to get there depending on soil type etc etc.
Are the measuring/sampling systems accurate enough to reliably get it correct anyway?
Discuss

 

[andyt87]

It's also not a bad way of getting more Republican voting ranching communities on side...

 

[DaveGrohl]

This is like watching Bill Gates throwing petrol onto a house, lighting a match and torching the place. Then he pays you to throw a cup full of water at it while announcing with a loudspeaker to all the onlookers that you set fire to it in the first place.

 

[onesiedale]

Thats approx £300 for every 1% organic matter. Is that worth bothering with considering the effort required to get there? It would only work if you are doing it for other reasons. It could easily take 10 years to get there depending on soil type etc etc.
Are the measuring/sampling systems accurate enough to reliably get it correct anyway?
Discuss

You're right. £30/acre/year is nowhere near enough for these corporates to offset their fossil fuel consumerist pollution.

To make a real difference to the burning of fossil fuels, carbon sequestration should be priceless, or at the very least, unaffordable .
Farmers and land managers should not be selling out for the green penny. There will be strings attached and restrictions on land use/farming will be tougher than ever before. Like I said earlier, Control is one of the biggest businesses on earth.

 

[JP1]

You're right. £30/acre/year is nowhere near enough for these corporates to offset their fossil fuel consumerist pollution.

To make a real difference to the burning of fossil fuels, carbon sequestration should be priceless, or at the very least, unaffordable .
Farmers and land managers should not be selling out for the green penny. There will be strings attached and restrictions on land use/farming will be tougher than ever before. Like I said earlier, Control is one of the biggest businesses on earth.

In my book one should not be able to "sell" it

Trouble is I can see a good few will want the £££ and the NFU can use it as a mandate to ramp up their net zero campaign (instead of batting off the lobbyists with the agenda pinning stuff on ag in the first place)

 

[white_stuffed]

I've had dexters calmer than a lot of breeds

We have been approached through our local FWAG people to see if we are interested in getting involved in this.

In a nutshell it would appear that we as farmers would agree to do certain things at the farm level e.g over wintered cover crops, hedge row work, fencing water courses, and various other similar things. These generate environmental credits that can be sold through the Entrade company to other organisations including house builders and even Wessex Water (their parent company).
Its obviously a bit more refined than what I have described, but that's the general gist.

Has anyone had any experience with this? I believe there was a similar project based in and around Poole harbour.

To me it feels like big business buying their way out of their pollution problems without actually doing anything about solving them, but I am happily corrected.

Have a look at EnTrade

Thoughts?

Thats approx £300 for every 1% organic matter. Is that worth bothering with considering the effort required to get there? It would only work if you are doing it for other reasons. It could easily take 10 years to get there depending on soil type etc etc.
Are the measuring/sampling systems accurate enough to reliably get it correct anyway?
Discuss

Are we as an industry ready with a response if/when we get approached to trade our carbon/environmental goods? Is there any guidance being developed on how to value these things?

 

[hendrebc]

Microsoft - Grazing carbon sequestration is better than we thought

Good article here. https://sustainablefoodtrust.org/articles/new-research-challenges-scientific-orthodoxy-on-the-role-of-grazing-livestock-in-relation-to-emission-reduction-targets/?fbclid=IwAR2f0NPr5n8btOiypF1Vx9EgQrzTKC_Xpq8DjURav1B7GDGlYxNZnTy0HQg All stems from them buying carbon credits...

thefarmingforum.co.uk

We already had this debate here about carbon trading and Microsoft not long ago. It's all a big show that won't make any difference. The thread is worth a read if you haven't already.

 

[manhill]

Lets boycott Microsoft .(typed on my chrome book)

Broke out from Microsoft and Apple's strangleholds. Raspberry Pi is the hardware now, does the basic things I need.
Kindle fire (<£40) for surfing etc, O2 mobile for pretty fast broadband.(no more 'how are you today sir') from BT.
Opt for paper correspondence where possible to keep postman in a job and me at home instead of driving to a mailbox aka the US ofA.

 

[onesiedale]

Can't believe I am posting this , but even Russell Brand has picked up on the the root causes of the Indian Farmers uprising, and possibly some global ag issues too

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=468566147834050

 

[DaveGrohl]

I'd like to listen to that but I had to stop after 5 seconds as I just can't cope with Russell Brand.

 

[onesiedale]

I'd like to listen to that but I had to stop after 5 seconds as I just can't cope with Russell Brand.

I thought the same , but he has picked up on the issue of the big corporations and control of Ag.
I know it will largely be self promotion for him, but with what he's saying, it isn't out of place on this forum.

 

[Yonlass]

I'd like to listen to that but I had to stop after 5 seconds as I just can't cope with Russell Brand.

Grit your teeth through the initial "oh it's that gobshite", and him flapping his hands all over the show, and it's actually very interesting.

 

[essexpete]

I'll go with Alan Savory

Critically Alan Savory points out that vast areas of dry parts of the world cannot sustain food production without grazing animals.

 

[Yonlass]

It really is quite extraordinary. It just goes to show, you can be extremely intelligent and an utter buffoon at the same time.

There are a lot of extremely 'heducated' people that have lost all grip on reality and have zero common sense when it comes to day to day living

 

[unlacedgecko]

 

[Shep]

What is glaringly obvious to thankfully most people is that cattle are natural, they are part of the ecosystem and have been around in varying numbers for a very long time! How on earth is it even comprehensible that they are ruining the planet? Especially when it is people from the most developed, industrialised and wealthiest parts of the world who are accusing them? It is like standing on someone's neck while accusing clouds in the sky for trying to kill them.
It is deception of the highest order.