Research alliance results point to environmental benefits of grazing ruminants

“This research alliance brings together scientists from several disciplines to collaborate on climate-change solutions and demonstrate agriculture’s great potential to positively shape the future of our planet,” said Dr. Mark Lyons, President and CEO of Alltech. “These exciting findings at Archbold’s Buck Island Ranch prove that we capture more carbon when cows are grazing the land. That is profoundly powerful.”

“Every year, we sequester 1,201 tons of CO₂ equivalent at Archbold’s Buck Island Ranch and all of this work is scalable to other parts of the world,” said Dr. Betsey Boughton, Director of Agroecology at Archbold. “The narrative people have heard is that cows are bad for the environment, but grazing animals can actually change the function of grasslands. Cows are eating the grass and not allowing as much decomposition to happen on the ground. Without cows, we actually see more carbon emitted.”

“We’re trying to let people know that it is not just this black and white answer,” she added. “It is complicated, and we need to think about the whole story.”

Though it is a complex issue, the research indicates agriculture can be one of the most powerful weapons in the fight against climate change.

This collaboration has discovered a deeper understanding of the grazing-cattle carbon cycle, one that is not solely focused on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the animal but also on natural GHG emissions from the land, and the sequestration of carbon in the soil. Discussions around GHGs and global warming often center around agriculture emissions, but it is important to think beyond emissions and look at the full cycle.

The potential to capture carbon in the soil under certain conditions presents a significant opportunity for the agri-food community to embrace its critical role in combatting climate change while simultaneously improving soil health, boosting crop yields and promoting biodiversity.