Not a benign ‘Moo’

Whether cattle are reared organically or with conventional farming methods, the end effect is bad for the environment, according to a new German consumer report. The agricultural lobby, however, is preventing politicians from tackling this massive source of greenhouse gas emissions. For most people, it’s the very picture of rural bliss, of a life in tune with nature and the wholesome world of farming: the happy cow standing on a lush meadow, calmly chewing its cud, a calf at its side.

Thilo Bode, the head of German consumer protection organisation Foodwatch, warns: “The cow is a climate bomb.” Whether they are raised conventionally or organically, one thing cows have in common is that they burp and fart to their hearts’ content. Like all ruminants, cows are constantly emitting methane from both ends. As malodorous as pigs may be, it is the gaseous emissions of billions of cattle, goats and sheep that are contributing to global warming... But when it comes time to break the bad news to the average citizen, politicians are suddenly thin on the ground. Agriculture is the blind spot in the German government’s climate protection policy. Farmers are for the most part exempt from an ambitious national programme to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40 per cent compared to 1990 levels by the year 2020, through methods such as better home insulation, energy conservation and the use of gasoline substitutes. Ironically, German agriculture is responsible for 133 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent emissions, bringing it close to the level of emissions attributable to road traffic (152 million tonnes).

Officials at the German Agriculture Ministry [offer] a disarmingly simple explanation: It is “too difficult, from a methodological point of view” to measure the greenhouse gases that are emitted in connection with fertiliser application, the spraying of pesticides and herbicides, cattle digestion and the draining of wetlands. Meanwhile, the Environment Ministry has a completely different take on the matter: “We have exempted agriculture from the climate protection strategy in order to limit the number of potential sources of conflict”.

Excerpted from an article in Der Spiegel

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