By Trina Kleist
Researchers in the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences are looking at how agriculture can reduce the climate-warming greenhouse gases produced by the sector. They discussed some of their findings during the recent Small Grains/Alfalfa Field Day, hosted by the department.
Their work is significant because gases that are produced naturally in agricultural soils contribute to unnaturally warm temperatures, as do carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels. Higher temperatures, in turn, contribute to increasingly severe weather and wildfire. Agriculture and the global food system together create about one-third of these greenhouse gases world-wide, and nitrogen fertilizers are a major source.
The good news: Scientists are finding ways to both reduce greenhouse gases and boost yields.
Source : ucdavis.edu