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CTV: Canada’s beef industry producing more with less greenhouse gas emissions: UM study shows

January 12, 2016 — 

As CTV reports:

Canada’s cattle industry is producing more beef with less greenhouse gas emissions, says a new study.

Researchers at the University of Manitoba and Agriculture Canada found a 15 per cent reduction in methane emissions on a production basis between 1981 and 2011, and a 16 per cent cut in nitrous dioxide from manure.

The results were achieved partly by feeding cattle grain instead of grass and other forage when they are being fattened before slaughter, says the study published in the journal Animal Production Science….

The results show the industry has become more efficient, with about 15 per cent fewer emissions overall.

“A significant reduction in GHG intensity over the past three decades occurred as a result of increased daily gain and slaughter weight, improved reproduction efficiency, reduced time to slaughter, increased crop yields and a shift toward high-grain diet that enabled cattle to be marketed at an earlier age,” reads the study.

 

Research at the University of Manitoba is partially supported by funding from the Government of Canada Research Support Fund.

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