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Professor says livestock climate measurement tools needed

A livestock professor testified before a House Ag subcommittee on sustainability saying climate change is going to have a major impact on the food supply chain but, right now, it is difficult to measure.

Dr. Kim Stackhouse-Lawson is with Colorado State University, “These changes alone are going to challenge and require improvements in adaptive capacity and resiliency of our farmers and ranchers in rural communities. There is no question that this will be the greatest challenge of our lifetime.”

She says greenhouse gas emissions estimates today are based only on models.

“They use limited absolute emissions data. Absolute emission data from livestock is needed to fully understand mitigation potential.”

Stackhouse-Lawson says farmers and ranchers need a robust baseline with research focused on scalable solutions to promote economic growth in the livestock industry.

She leads the Ag Next team at Colorado State which is working on that but says more access is needed to federal funding, grants and private investments, engaging all stakeholders in the U.S.