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them a marketing edge with meat companies leading scientists argue that its global warming
and grocers. potential isn’t as great as currently calculated
With assistance from scientists at the University because it has a short half-life of 10 or 12
of Arkansas, the National Pork Board is testing years, said Thoma.
a carbon footprint calculator that a producer As a result, scientists including Myles Allen of
can use to estimate the greenhouse emissions, the University of Oxford argue for calculating
including the transportation of the feed to the the climate impact of cattle according to their
farm, and the emissions of methane from the “global warming potential” rather than carbon
hogs’ manure. emissions. “Any farmer who has had a constant
herd for 20 years or more would see a much
But there is a big piece of missing information:
The board is still waiting for the grain industry lower value assigned to the impact of their
to agree on how to measure the carbon emis- herd, which is consistent with its actual impact
sions from producing the corn, soybeans and on global temperature,” he said in an email
other commodities that make up the feed. to Agri-Pulse.
When the calculator is finished, a producer will Farmers could face regional disparities
also know how to adjust his or her operation
in order to meet the expectations of processors A big question for agriculture is who will ben-
or retailers, some of whom have committed to efit from the measurements of carbon impacts,
making major reductions in their supply chain’s assuming there is agreement on how to do
greenhouse gas emissions. it. The Biden administration and Congress
will have to struggle with how to address these
A key issue for the cattle sector is how to disparities if they decide to use USDA to reward
count methane emissions from manure and farmers for carbon offsets.
belching cattle.
Another long-standing issue is whether to
As a greenhouse gas, methane is four times credit farmers who have already following
more potent than carbon dioxide, but some practices that maximize soil carbon and reduce

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