By Alanna Laverty
As I prepare for my final year of undergraduate education, I am spending the summer interning for the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA). I am a Global Studies major at UC Santa Barbara and I am interested in global climate change, environment, and sustainability. I chose to intern at CDFA because of the unique opportunity to promote California agriculture’s climate goals, an imperative task as California is the nation’s top agriculture producer.
In June, I had the opportunity to attend the 2026 State of the Science Summit: Reducing Methane from Animal Agriculture at UC Davis. The scale at which this conference operates, with people from a variety of institutions and countries, highlights the magnitude of the potential of agriculture to be part of the solution to the climate crisis.
It was interesting to hear science and research offering solutions for agriculture’s enteric emissions. Animal genetics were a major topic of discussion, often accompanied by the phrase “genetics are a permanent solution.” Other areas of study included bromoform, early life intervention, and feeding strategies. Minerva Ringland with ReFED introduced a complimentary feeding strategy that uses food waste as part of animal feeding to reduce methane emissions, tackling both issues at once.
Beyond science, research and panel discussions looked at the human side of the issue of enteric emissions. Speakers highlighted that key ways to transform research conclusions into feasible realities include communication, implementation capacity, and building trust with farmers and ranchers.
Source : ca.gov