While many Americans were enjoying U.S. Thanksgiving late in 2024 and the official kickoff to the December holidays, food and culture arguments were raging across the pond. Consumers, farmers and influencers were bashing Arla Foods’ use of 3-NOP (under the brand name Bovaer) in milk production. The key questions that emerged: Do we really need to worry about methane emissions from cattle, and if so, is Bovaer a safe way to chip away at those emissions?
Marketing efforts distract us from the main climate change polluters by disproportionately blaming sectors such as animal agriculture and the products they produce such as meat and dairy.
The terms “carbon neutral” and “climate neutral” are part of the lexicon of global climate change terms. Though they are sometimes used interchangeably, they have different definitions. Understanding the nuances is important.
UC Davis White Paper Re-Examines Methane’s Role in Climate Change, and How California Dairy Can Achieve Climate Neutrality
DAVIS, Calif., Sept. 2, 2020 – Researchers from the University of California, Davis are rethinking methane and showing that climate neutrality is within reach for the California dairy sector.
It sounds counterintuitive, but new research is pointing to the fact that instead of merely heating up our atmosphere with the potent gas methane, cows might actually be able to help fight climate change. It all has to do with what happens to methane after it enters the atmosphere, and with the advances American farmers and ranchers have made in the past 70 years.
