Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Agriculture Is Good For The Environment

Once again, the mainstream media is putting out mis-leading and inaccurate information about beef cattle and their impact on the environment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56ASE1wjQWE

Family ranchers and farmers are responsible stewards of the environment. Our livelihoods depend on preserving a healthy, safe and clean environment for food production and being able to pass on a viable operation to our children and grandchildren. Family ranchers and farmers continuously implement Best Management Practices (BMP’s) that are based on the best available science, to maintain soil, water and air quality.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the entire U.S. agricultural sector accounts for only 6.4 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), and livestock production, according to the U.S. Inventory of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks accounts for only 2 percent. Meanwhile, fossil fuel combustion contributes over 79 percent of all GHG emissions.

Environmental Protection Agency
http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/downloads/08_CR.pdf

U.S. Inventory of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks
http://yosemite.epa.gov/oar/globalwarming.nsf/UniqueKeyLookup/RAMR6P5M5M/$File/06FastFacts.pdf

Finally, the positive environmental practices implemented by family ranchers and farmers not only conserve and improve natural resources, they enhance the productivity of the land and serve as “carbon sinks” for carbon sequestration. Some of those environmental enhancement projects include: brush and weed control, grazing management, conservation tillage systems, riparian habitat management and water efficiency projects.

Support the environment; help correct the mis-information being spread by the mainstream media and anti-agriculture groups that fail to recognize the environmental importance of family ranches and farmers.

Have you thanked a family rancher or farmer for their efforts lately?

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About Me

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Jeff Fowle is a fourth generation family farmer and rancher from Etna, California. He and his wife Erin and son Kyle raise registered Angus cattle, Percheron draft horses, warmbloods, alfalfa and alfalfa-grass hay. They also start and train horses for riding, jumping, and driving. Their family run ranch has incorporated many environmentally beneficial and water efficient technologies and management strategies. Jeff attended college at Colorado State University for two years and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo for four and earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Animal Science. Following college, he worked in Washington State for a year as a herdsman for BB Cattle Company and then returned to Etna, California in 1995 to own and operate KK Bar Ranch and Siskiyou Percherons. The latter was started by his grandfather, Clarence Dudley, who devoted much of his time to the Percheron Horse Association of America, specifically to developing their youth education program.