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Evaluating greenhouse gas mitigation practices in livestock systems: an illustration of a whole-farm approach

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2009

A. A. STEWART ,
S. M. LITTLE ,
K. H. OMINSKI ,
K. M. WITTENBERG  and
H. H. JANZEN
A. A. STEWART
Affiliation:
Department of Animal Science, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, CanadaR3T 2N2
S. M. LITTLE
Affiliation:
Research Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, P.O. Box 3000, Lethbridge, AB, CanadaT1J 4B1
K. H. OMINSKI*
Affiliation:
Department of Animal Science, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, CanadaR3T 2N2
K. M. WITTENBERG
Affiliation:
Department of Animal Science, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, CanadaR3T 2N2
H. H. JANZEN
Affiliation:
Research Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, P.O. Box 3000, Lethbridge, AB, CanadaT1J 4B1
*
*To whom all correspondence should be addressed. Email: k_ominski@umanitoba.ca
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Summary

As agriculture contributes about 0·08 of Canada's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, reducing agricultural emissions would significantly decrease total Canadian GHG output. Evaluating mitigation practices is not always easy because of the complexity of farming systems in which one change may affect many processes and associated emissions. The objective of the current study was to compare the effects of selected management practices on net whole-farm emissions, expressed in CO2 equivalents (CO2e) from a beef production system, as estimated for hypothetical farms at four disparate locations in western Canada. Whole-farm emissions (t CO2e) per unit of protein output (t) of 11 management systems (Table 2) were compared for each farm using a model based, in part, on Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) equations. Compared with the baseline management scenario, maintaining cattle on alfalfa-grass pastures showed the largest decrease (0·53–1·08 t CO2e/t protein) in emissions for all locations. Feeding lower quality forage over winter showed the greatest increase in emissions per unit protein on the southern Alberta (S.AB) and northern Alberta (N.AB) farms, with increases of 1·36 and 2·22 t CO2e/t protein, respectively. Eliminating the fertilization of forages resulted in the largest increase (4·20 t CO2e/t protein) in emissions per unit protein on the Saskatchewan (SK) farm, while reducing the fertilizer rate by half for all crops showed the largest increase (11·40 t CO2e/t protein) on the Manitoba (MB) farm. The findings, while approximate, illustrate the importance of considering all GHGs simultaneously, and show that practices which best reduce emissions may vary among locations. The findings also suggest merit in comparing emissions on the basis of CO2e per unit of protein exported off-farm, rather than on the basis of total CO2e or CO2e per hectare.

Type
Modelling Animal Systems Paper
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 147 , Issue 4 , August 2009 , pp. 367 - 382
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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