Call to Action for the Agriculture Sector

Agriculture generates a surprisingly large fraction, 18%, of greenhouse gas emissions. Most of this comes from methane emissions from enteric fermentation and manure degradation. In addition, agriculture also releases nitrous oxide. Both of these gases have a much more significant warming potential than Carbon Dioxide, hence their large impact. Fortunately, there are many technical solutions for the conversion of manure to renewable fuel (biomethane) is already widely applied in Western Europe and increasing rapidly elsewhere.

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The call for action for this industry is as follows:

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1. Convert all manure worldwide to fuel.

2. Apply existing food additives and develop further ways to reduce enteric fermentation.

3. Minimize the application of nitrogenous fertilizers by using legumes as cover crops, apply organic fertilizers when possible and if chemical fertilizers are used, coordinate fertilizer application with plant growth cycles in order to lessen nitrous oxide release.

4. Convert agricultural residues to renewable fuel to replace fossil fuels.

5. Take advantage of the many government subsidies in this sector to make farms sustainable and help with climate change.