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Is AgriBusiness the Biggest Greenhouse Gas Polluter? Even Bigger Than Greenhouse Gases from Burning Fossil Fuels when ALL Factors are Considered!

Lawrence's picture
Submitted by Lawrence on

Various sectors of agribusiness have been linked to the bulk of the greenhouse gases.

“New data that has come out clearly shows that industrial agriculture and the globalized food system are responsible of between 44 and 57% of total global greenhouse gas emissions. This figure can be broken down as follows (i) Agricultural activities are responsible for 11 to 15%, (ii) Land clearing and deforestation cause an additional 15 to 18%, (iii) Food processing, packing and transportation cause 15 to 20%, and (iv) Decomposition of organic waste causes another 3 to 4%. It means that our current food system is a major polluter. The question we have to answer now is: how do we solve the climate chaos, hunger and assure a better livelihood for farmers, when the agricultural sector itself is contributing more than half of the total emissions? We believe that it is the industrial and agribusiness model of agriculture that is at the root of the problem, because those percentages that I mentioned earlier come from the deforestation and the conversion of natural forests into monoculture plantations, all of which is being carried out by Agribusiness Corporations.” Claims made in a speech at Copenhagen by Henry Saragih of Via Compesina.

Steering Questions: Are these claims ridiculous? Is Global climate change really the result of human activity? Or 2. If it is, should CO2 and other greenhouse gases be regulated? What harm would such regulation have on agribusiness? What are some of the changes through technology and practices that can be done to reduce or even sequestering greenhouse gases? How might these practices affect our ability to feed the world? What role should agribusiness play in providing biofuel?

Oil, coal, and natural gas are collectively known as fossil fuels. Today, eighty-five percent of all energy produced in the United States comes from burning these fuels. That energy powers almost two-thirds of our electricity and virtually all of our transportation.i

One estimate suggests that reusing a glass jar five times at home can save about half of the energy a commercial packager uses to make five disposable containers.xviii

There are a number of problems associated with fossil fuels, most of which stem from the by-products created when they are burned to create energy. Chief among those byproducts are carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide, greenhouse gases that are major contributors to global warming . Largely because of coal and petroleum combustion, the amount of carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide in the air today are thirty-five percent and eighteen percent higher, respectively, than they were before the industrial era.iii Other byproducts of fossil fuel combustion include sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides, both of which contribute to acid rain, and hydrocarbons, which can react with nitrogen oxides to form smog.iv

In addition to their environmental harm, the byproducts of burning fossil fuels can cause health problems for humans . Nitrogen oxides, for instance, irritate the lungs.v Particulate matter such as soot and dust contribute to respiratory illness and cardiac problems, including arrhythmias and heart attacks.vi

Fossil fuel dependence also damages the health of our nation. In 2004, almost sixty percent of petroleum products used in the United States were imported from other countries.vii And despite the fact that fossil fuels are limited resources that cannot be replaced, the Department of Energy acknowledges that their usage in the United States is likely only to grow over the next century. viii This means that unless we dramatically change the way the United States consumes energy, our dependence on foreign sources of fossil fuels will also grow—and increasingly threaten the stability of American government, business, and daily life.

Fossil Fuels and Industrial Farming
Conventional food production and distribution requires a tremendous amount of energy—one study conducted in 2000 estimated that ten percent of the energy used annually in the United States was consumed by the food industry.ix Yet for all the energy we put into our food system, we don’t get very much out. A 2002 study from the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health estimated that, using our current system, three calories of energy were needed to create one calorie of edible food. And that was on average. Some foods take far more, for instance grain-fed beef, which requires thirty-five calories for every calorie of beef produced. x What’s more, the John Hopkins study didn’t include the energy used in processing and transporting food. Studies that do estimate that it takes an average of seven to ten calories of input energy to produce one calorie of food.xi

Accounting for most of this wasteful equation are the industrial practices upon which our food system is built. These include inefficient growing practices, food processing, and storage, as well as our system of transporting foodstuffs thousands of miles between the field and the end consumer.

Growing Practices
The biggest culprit of fossil fuel usage in industrial farming is not transporting food or fueling machinery; it’s chemicals. As much as forty percent of energy used in the food system goes towards the production of artificial fertilizers and pesticides. xii Fertilizers are synthesized from atmospheric nitrogen and natural gas, a process that takes a significant amount of energy. Producing and distributing them requires an average of 5.5 gallons of fossil fuels per acre. xiii

Manure could be a more energy-efficient alternative to synthetic fertilizers, but because it is heavy this applies only when it can be used a short distance from where it is produced—and our industrial system precludes this option. xiv The problem is over-consolidation: We raise large numbers of livestock in one place and raise the grain they eat in other places. This means that the livestock produce an excess of manure where there’s no cropland for it to be spread on, making it a pollutant rather than a tool. Meanwhile, the fields that grow feed must draw their fertility from synthetic sources.xv We end up with concentrations of unusable manure in one place, and concentrations of chemical fertilizers in the other—and a whole lot of fuel wasted trucking feed and fertilizer around the country.

The extent of this waste is underscored by the fact that it’s largely unnecessary. Small, pasture-based livestock farms take advantage of natural cycles: the animals feed themselves on grass and distribute their manure themselves, fertilizing the pasture as they go. Rather than fossil fuels, they need only rain and sun to make the system work.

Packaging, Processing, and Storing Food
Approximately twenty-three percent of the energy used in our food production system is allocated to processing and packaging food.xvi Another thirty-two percent is burned in home refrigeration and cooking.xvii While no study has quantified the potential energy savings of buying locally, the practice of eating whole foods generally decreases the use of fossil fuels for processing, packaging, and storing foods. (Compare all the energy and packaging behind say, a can of tomato sauce, to simply buying some tomatoes, basil, and garlic, and making it oneself.) If the consumer chooses to store foods for long periods of time at home, this can often be done in a more energy-efficient manner than commercial packagers choose to use. One estimate suggests that reusing a glass jar five times at home can save about half of the energy a commercial packager uses to make five disposable containers.xviii

Food Transportation 
Because industrial farming draws on the economy of scale, our food is increasingly grown in concentration in specific areas of the country. This is so common that it has shaped much of our country’s geographic identities—the western Plains are wheat country, the Midwest is the Corn Belt—but it has reached extremes. For instance, approximately ninety percent of all the fresh vegetables consumed in the United States are grown in California’s San Joaquin Valley.xix

This national-scale system is possible only because it uses large quantities of fossil fuels to transport food products to the consumer. It is now common practice to ship food not just around the country, but around the world. (In 2005, more than $120 billion of agricultural products crossed U.S. borders as imports and exports.)xx As a result, the average American foodstuff travels an estimated 1,500 miles before being consumed.xxi

Sustainable Farming and Fossil Fuel Savings 
The most obvious way that small, sustainable farms help reduce the nation’s dependence on fossil fuels is by selling their products locally. The less food has to travel, the less fuel is needed to transport it. But sustainable farming practices also have the potential to reduce fossil fuel dependence by eliminating wasteful production practices. The USDA estimates that making all our farmland’s irrigation systems just ten percent more efficient would annually save eighty million gallons of diesel gasoline spent on pumping and applying the water.xxii Similarly, reducing repetitive fertilizer application on the 250 million acres of major cropland in the United States would save approximately one billion dollars worth of petroleum-based fertilizers and pesticides (not to mention prevent soil and water pollution).xxiii These kinds of dramatic reductions in resource consumption can be achieved through management-intensive, sustainable farming practices.

Exercising proper soil conservation techniques can also help reduce fossil fuel usage. For example, the USDA estimates that no-till farming can save about 3.9 gallons of diesel fuel per acre of land.xxiv As the name suggests, no-till farming means eliminating (or in some cases reducing) the tilling of soil, which decreases the use of diesel-powered heavy equipment.

No-till can even reverse some of the damage caused by fossil fuel use. Plants absorb carbon from the air and bring it down into the soil, but when farmers till, they release the carbon back up into the air. By not tilling, that carbon stays underground. USDA scientists estimate that if proper soil conservation techniques were used, U.S. cropland could store between twelve and fourteen percent of the nation’s annual carbon emissions.xxv As pollution from fossil fuels and other sources continues to grow, environmentally friendly practices such as no-till farming are more necessary than ever.

In 2001 the
US imported:

68.2% of our fish and shellfish

27.3 percent of confectionary products

21.4 percent of fruits, juices, and nuts

15.5 percent of vegetable oils

9.3 percent of red meat.xxvii

Sustainable farms also take advantage of animal power to fuel their operations. When animals graze, they feed themselves and spread their own manure. This eliminates the need to truck feed to the animals and then truck their manure out to fields where it is sprayed. Thus the practice of grazing animals on pasture also decreases the amount of fuel used to produce our food.

What You Can Do

  • Buy foods grown locally. The equation is simple: the closer the farm is to you, the less fuel is needed to transport its food to your table. You can find local foods through our Eat Well Guide by visiting a local farmers market, or by joining a food co-op or Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) group. See our Shop Sustainable page for more information. And while you’re at it, ask your grocery store to supply locally grown produce.
  • Want to have lettuce that’s truly local? Plant a garden and grow your own fresh produce!
  • Avoid purchasing processed foods. These foods take more energy to produce (and have less nutritional value than whole foods). In addition, choose foods with minimal packaging. This reduces the energy used to produce the packaging and eliminates these materials from the waste stream.
  • Cut back on meat. As much as Americans love to eat it, meat is the least fuel-efficient food we have. Large quantities of energy are required to cultivate, harvest, and ship animal feed, house, transport and slaughter animals, process and package their meat, and refrigerate it until it’s cooked.

Did You Know?

  • Nitrogen-based fertilizers contribute directly to global warming: Making and transporting one kilogram of nitrogen in a fertilizer releases 3.7 kg of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.xxvi
  • As bountiful as our nation’s agriculture is, we are hardly self-sufficient. To supply the American diet, in 2001 we imported 68.2 percent of our fish and shellfish, 27.3 percent of confectionary products, 21.4 percent of fruits, juices, and nuts, 15.5 percent of vegetable oils, and 9.3 percent of red meat.xxvii

For More Information

Sources

For this articles original publication location see http://hopkintonschools.libguides.com/content.php?pid=269553&sid=2230783

We also strongly recommend that you read this very detailed article suggesting that Agribusiness is the largest cause of greenhouse gases causing global warming. Click here for the article.

Also see this article with more research and summary facts showing agribusiness's major role in climate destabilization and other unsustainable practices.

 

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