Methane and Global Warming

We’ve all heard about cows being blamed for global warming. I recently called Chief Executive Officer of the Idaho Dairy Products Commission, Karianne Fallow to talk about it. “Are you in a good enough mood to talk about cow flatulence and global warming? I could talk about that subject on this Friday. It is delicate but after all we are in agriculture Karianne and your constituency owns a lot of cows, but with all of the world feels blaming in part the dairy industry for global warming… Yes, I think it is misplaced direction of blame and I am excited to share with you that just last month the White House created a roadmap of bio-gas and energy future planning to reduce methane emissions from agriculture. During that announcement the White House actually formally cited the work of the innovation Center for US dairy because their work in sustainability has been so progressive. What is the map for the future? The bio-gas and energy roadmap is developed in partnership with the dairy industry to accelerate the adoption of bio-gas systems and other cost-effective technology. For example, the recovery of nitrogen and phosphorus, valuable soil nutrients, that all have the potential to make these systems revenue and enhancing for dairy farms of all sizes. It really has the potential to be a win-win.