229282 Resource 107527 205428 205428 1238005557485 1238005557485 Controlled Global Warming: How Much can We Gain by Cleaning Up Agriculture?

Farms often overlooked in effort to reduce GHGs, scientists say

Could cleaning up our farms go a long way to reducing global warming? Scientists say yes. <o:p />Scientists are urging climate negotiators to focus more attention on the role farms could play in reducing greenhouse gas emissions linked to global warming. And its almost entirely ignored by policymakers. Did you know that farming contributes as much to global warming as all the world's cars, trucks and planes? It’s also expected to increase its share as the world welcomes an expected 3 billion more people by 2050 <o:p />Much of the world's efforts have been focused on reducing visible emissions from factories and power plants, but scientists say farming operations offer vast, untapped resources in carbon sinks and biogas plants. <o:p />John Ibbett's Bedfordia Group is among a small group of farmers in Britain that have built plants that capture methane from manure and farm waste to be burned in the production of electricity. <o:p />Methane, one of the most potent greenhouse gases, is diverted from the atmosphere at Ibbett's pig farm about 50 miles north of London. <o:p />Much bigger benefits are expected to come from small changes in soil management. Just as trees and plants store carbon from the atmosphere, so too can the soil. That potential could be improved if farmers used longer rotations, refrained from overgrazing pastures and plowed less. <o:p />So my question: why has this sector been ignored by policymakers? Who is protecting and who is taking money? Something isn’t right here.. 10 application/xml false climate change ghg global warming Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.1.20) Gecko/20081217 Firefox/2.0.0.20 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 jwuebben 74.202.198.130 false true false false true 205814 false false true false false false true 107527 blog blogsite/Enviance/web