Mitloehner’s research challenged the United Nations’ claim that livestock production contributes more greenhouse gases than transportation and prompted the United Nations to concede a flaw in its analysis.
“I must say honestly that he has a point — we factored in everything for meat emissions, and we didn't do the same thing with transport,” Pierre Gerber, a policy officer with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (F.A.O.), told the British Broadcasting Corp. (B.B.C.).
Attempts to apply these global numbers to the U.S. are misleading because the vast majority of global greenhouse gas emissions attributed to livestock production result from deforestation and converting rain forests and other lands to grow crops or pasture, the American Meat Institute (A.M.I.) has long contended. Such changes do not occur in the U.S., which has seen an increase in the total acreage of forested land over the last several decades even while total agricultural production has increased.
Mitloehner will present his views on June 11 at 1:30 p.m. CST in a free webcast “Animal Ag´s Role in Greenhouse Gas Production: A Closer Look.” Rick Stowell, University of Nebraska Extension specialist focusing on air quality in animal agriculture, is the moderator.
The webcast is part of eXtension´s Livestock and Poultry Environmental Learning Center monthly series. More information about the webcast and about how to participate is available on theeXtension site.
