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DEAR EDITORI was frustrated reading Marie Donnelly’s recent interview on reducing agricultural emissions. The idea of feed additives for cattle as a climate solution ignores the basic biology of the grass-based systems we rely on.
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DEAR EDITOR
I was frustrated reading Marie Donnelly’s recent interview on reducing agricultural emissions. The idea of feed additives for cattle as a climate solution ignores the basic biology of the grass-based systems we rely on.
Grass pulls carbon dioxide from the air. Cattle eat the grass and emit methane — a gas that breaks down after seven to 12 years into CO2, which the plant then reabsorbs. This is a natural cycle. Our national herd isn’t growing, so why are we being asked to introduce artificial additives into this balanced system?
If a car ran on vegetable oil, we’d call it carbon neutral because the carbon it emits came from the atmosphere in the first place.
Yet when a cow does the same thing – powered by grass, not fossil fuel – she’s treated like a climate criminal.
Expecting farmers to feed cattle additives for their entire lives for a one-time cut in methane emissions is deeply unfair and scientifically questionable.
Meanwhile, the companies behind these additives stand to make a fortune — and it’s not hard to imagine that it’s their lobbying power pushing this agenda.
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