Page 41 - C:\Users\sandi\OneDrive\Documents\Flip PDF Professional\Ebook-AgriculturesSustainableFuture-Final\

Bryan Pagel looks on in front of the digester on his Wisconsin dairy farm.

Products such as one produced by Pivot Bio, pipe dream that most of us thought would never
a startup based in Berkeley, Calif., that can occur in our lifetimes,” Matlock said.
help crops fix, or capture, their own nitrogen, Here is a look at some of the major technologies
are potential game changers because of the under development:
effect they would have on the greenhouse gas
emissions of animal feed, according to Marty BIOLOGICALS
Matlock, executive director of the University
of Arkansas Resiliency Center and a profes- Benefits: Cut nitrous oxide emissions by
sor of ecological engineering who advises reducing the amount of nitrogen fertilizer
sustainability programs for numerous farm that plants require or by increasing soil
commodities. carbon levels.

It may take a while to perfect the products, but Prospects: Farmers who have tried
feed accounts for such a large part of the carbon them say they can reduce fertilizer usage
footprint of hogs, chickens and turkeys that corn while making them eligible for payments
capable of fixing its own nitrogen could lower through emerging carbon markets.
the greenhouse gas emissions of pork and poul-
try by 30%, he said. Challenges: It’s still early in the
deployment of the products to know how
“I have a bachelor’s degree in agronomy that much they will affect fertilizer applications
I finished in 1984, and we were talking about and farm economics. Carbon markets are
nitrogen-fixing corn back then. And it was a still in development as well.

www.Agri-Pulse.com 41