A Pesky Problem
Through consistent observation, you always noticed which herd members were more susceptible to internal and external parasites. Fecal sampling helped you identify a few silent carriers: heavily infested animals spreading parasites on your pastures even though they showed no visible signs of disease. Over time you selected only disease-free, low-burden stock for breeding. Today, your animals graze diverse pastures replete with a variety of bioactive forages. Dung beetles thrive, dispersing manure piles and destroying many eggs, while predatory insects devour…
Truly Grassfed – The Glanbia Ireland Farmer Cooperative
The Glanbia Ireland farmer cooperative raises Certified Animal Welfare Approved by A Greener World (AGW) dairy cattle on independent farms across 21 counties on the eastern seaboard of Ireland. The network of 4,800-farmers annually processes over two billion liters of milk, almost one-third of Ireland’s milk pool, into a range of ingredients—from branded cheese and butter through to the infant, sports, clinical and nutrition markets. Glanbia Ireland brings Certified Animal Welfare Approved by AGW cheeses and butters marketed under the…
It Wasn’t the Cows After All
While the cattle industry is repeatedly accused of being the main culprit for increased global methane emissions (and a leading cause for climate change), a new study shows that the fertilizer industry is the root cause. The report by researchers from Cornell and the Environmental Defense Fund, published in Elementa, shows that emissions of methane from the industrial fertilizer industry have been dangerously underestimated (and, it turns out, based on self-reporting) and the production of ammonia for fertilizer may result in…
Great Food Transition or Great Mistake?
By Pat Thomas. This article was originally printed in the Spring 2019 (Volume 4 Issue 2) of Sustainable Farming magazine. To read the full issue please visit agreenerworld.org/resources/sustainablefarmingmagazine. The authors of the EAT Lancet Commission report, Food in the Anthropocene, may not have intended their work to be a polemic, but polemic it has become. Its notion of a “great food transition” has especially outraged regenerative farmers who are working to raise healthy animals in sustainable systems. It has divided…
Climate Politics and Vegan Wars
By Frédéric Leroy and Martin Cohen. This article was originally printed in the Spring 2019 (Volume 4 Issue 2) of Sustainable Farming magazine. To read the full issue please visit agreenerworld.org/resources/sustainablefarmingmagazine. Have you noticed how arguments to ditch dairy and cut back on meat are springing up everywhere, from Twitter to the New York Times? It’s estimated there are one and a half million vegans in the U.S. Yet they are still outnumbered by livestock farmers and ranchers, who provide…
