Evaluating greenhouse gas mitigation practices in livestock systems: an illustration of a whole-farm approach
Abstract
As agriculture contributes about 0·08 of Canada's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, reducing agricultural emissions would significantly decrease total Canadian GHG output. Evaluating mitigation practices is not always easy because of the complexity of farming systems in which one change may affect many processes and associated emissions. The objective of the current study was to compare the effects of selected management practices on net whole-farm emissions, expressed in CO2 equivalents (CO2e) from a beef production system, as estimated for hypothetical farms at four disparate locations in western Canada. Whole-farm emissions (t CO2e) per unit of protein output (t) of 11 management systems (Table 2) were compared for each farm using a model based, in part, on Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) equations. Compared with the baseline management scenario, maintaining cattle on alfalfa-grass pastures showed the largest decrease (0·53-1·08 t CO2e/t protein) in emissions for all locations. Feeding lower quality forage over winter showed the greatest increase in emissions per unit protein on the southern Alberta (S.AB) and northern Alberta (N.AB) farms, with increases of 1·36 and 2·22 t CO2e/t protein, respectively. Eliminating the fertilization of forages resulted in the largest increase (4·20 t CO2e/t protein) in emissions per unit protein on the Saskatchewan (SK) farm, while reducing the fertilizer rate by half for all crops showed the largest increase (11·40 t CO2e/t…
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According to Stewart et al. (2009), reduction in fertilizer use resulted in the largest decrease (30%) in modeled overall emissions from beef production.
“According to Stewart et al. (2009), reduction in fertilizer use resulted in the largest decrease (30%) in modeled overall emissions from beef production.”
From Impacts of soil carbon sequestration on life cycle greenhouse gas emissions in Midwestern USA beef finishing systems (2018) · cites this paper as Stewart et al. (2009)
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- Authors
- STEWART, A. A., LITTLE, S. M., OMINSKI, K. H., WITTENBERG, K. M., & JANZEN, H. H.
- Affiliations
- University of Manitoba (CA)
- Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (CA)
- Corresponding author
- OMINSKI, K. H.
- ORCID
- OMINSKI, K. H.
- Venue
- The Journal of Agricultural Science
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 2009-05-20
- Volume
- 147
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 367-382
- ISSN
- 0021-8596 (ISSN-L)
- 1469-5146
- OpenAlex
- W2160861648
- Cited by
- 42
- References
- 33
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 6
- FWCI
- 4.05
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The Journal of Agricultural Science (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Chemistry › Sustainable Agricultural Systems Analysis
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Agriculture Sustainability and Environmental Impact
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Agronomy and Crop Science › Ruminant Nutrition and Digestive Physiology
- Keywords
- greenhouse gas emissions reduction, beef production, CO2 equivalent, protein production, cattle grazing, forage quality, winter feeding, forage fertilization, fertilizer reduction, IPCC emission factors, management practices, Western Canada
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