Monthly Archives: July 2014

New USDA roadmap a breakthrough for farmers and climate mitigation

womanThe U.S. Department of Agriculture just published an important roadmap for America’s farmers and ranchers to measure their greenhouse gas emissions and evaluate opportunities for reducing them.

Previously, insufficient data and lack of scientific consensus have impeded natural resource stewards from calculating GHG fluxes from management practices – especially since biological systems are dynamic and complex. But the new Greenhouse Gas Report provides thorough guidelines for understanding how different management practices influence GHG emissions on farms, ranches and forests.

This is a major breakthrough in mitigating the impacts of climate change on working lands. By helping landowners better understand their impacts, farmers, ranchers and forest owners will be better equipped to calculate their emissions and account for these impacts through voluntary participation in GHG mitigation or carbon sequestration projects across the country.

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The Colorado River Basin can’t afford to leave farmers out to dry

farmer irrigatingOn Colorado River Day, it’s worth considering how we can write the next chapter in the water story of the American West.

With the recent news that Lake Mead is at its lowest level in history, it’s impossible to ignore the trajectory of America’s hardest-working river. In the Colorado River Basin, we are already using more water annually than is being supplied by snowpack and other precipitation. The Bureau of Reclamation and others predict that this gap in water supply and demand will increase to nearly 4 million acre-feet by 2060, with significant shortages possible as early as 2017.

It has become clear that, over time, our water uses are going to have to change. In thinking about where – in what sectors – this change should take place, we must also consider the environmental, cultural and economic services that each sector provides.

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We don’t have to pit wildlife against the economy

Greater sage grouse. Photo credit:  Steven Nehl

Greater sage grouse. Photo credit: Steven Nehl

This post was co-written by Terry Fankhauser, executive vice president of the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association and executive director of Partners for Western Conservation.

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: A rancher, an environmentalist, and an oil company exec walk into a bar. The bartender looks up and asks, “Is this a joke?”

On the surface we may seem like an odd group, but ranchers, energy companies and environmentalists are finding each other willing partners in solving big conservation problems.

Colorado is one of 11 Western states where an iconic rangeland bird, the greater sage grouse, nests in high desert topography that’s also perfect ground for cattle ranching. And in recent years, Colorado’s booming oil and gas industry has encroached on the bird’s habitat.

That puts the bird’s future on a collision course with the state’s two largest economic drivers: agriculture and energy. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service faces a 2015 deadline to decide if the greater sage grouse should be protected by an Endangered Species Act listing. Listing could severely crimp both energy production and ranching across a vast territory.

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Reducing risks to corn production requires a supply chain solution

Photo: © John Rae

Photo: © John Rae

Corn is our country’s biggest crop economically and takes up nearly one-third of U.S. cropland. It is a pillar of our food production system – a key ingredient in everything from drinks, sauces and snack foods to dairy products, fuel and meat.

So when news about corn’s risky future pops up, we should all take note, and the entire agricultural supply chain should work toward solutions.

Water & Climate Risks Facing U.S. Corn Production, produced by the nonprofit sustainability advocate Ceres, is the latest analysis to sound the warning bell.

Last year U.S. corn growers harvested a record 14 billion bushels of corn, making them among the most productive farmers in the world (this year’s harvest is expected to be huge as well). But climate change and groundwater depletion are threatening to undermine corn’s success as global demand increases. Inefficient fertilizer use is compounding the problem.

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