Methane

I have had several conversations with Chief Executive Officer of the Idaho Dairy Products Commission, Karianne Fallow and find her to be knowledgeable, credible and a wonderful advocate for her charge, the dairy industry. We recently took on the subject of the dairy industry's carbon footprint in the form of methane emissions and I found out that she also has a great sense of humor. "Let me just share with you that in 2009, the dairy industry established a voluntary goal to reduce its carbon footprint by 25% by the year 2020. There are projects underway all across the dairy value chain to accomplish that goal. Because of dairy farmers' long-standing commitment to environmental stewardship, the White House strategy for agriculture includes a commitment to cost-effective, voluntary actions to reduce methane emissions citing precisely the progress that the dairy industry has made. That is very good news for dairy farmers. Certainly in the State of Idaho, what is good news for dairy farmers is also good news for Idaho. That is right. We are currently number four in the nation in dairy production and number one per capita. The dairy industry is a significant economic engine for the state. My final thought is that if we are trying to reduce these emissions, what about sprinkling Beano in the feed we give to dairy cattle? ( Laughter) Would that work? I don't know how effective the product is but maybe that's one experiment for down the road.