Graze Holistically to Sequester Carbon and Mitigate Global Warming

After four years of monitoring and data collection by the Savory Network hub at Michigan State University, Jason Rowntree et al. have reached some very important conclusions in a newly published paper in Elsevier.

• Grass-fed beef in the American Midwest under, “adaptive multi-paddock grazing” (AMP is a scientific name for Holistic Management), provides a net carbon sink, compared with feedlot-raised beef.
• “Our results show that not only can adoption of improved grazing management facilitate soil carbon sequestration, but that the finishing phase of the beef production system may serve as an overall greenhouse gas sink.”
• “While AMP grazing requires twice as much land than feedlot, if effectively implemented over a large area, total carbon sequestration in the Upper Midwest could increase substantially.”
• “It is possible that long-term AMP grazing finishing in the Upper Midwest could contribute considerably more to climate change mitigation and adaptation than previously thought.”
• “AMP-grazed steers finished 150 days shorter and 99 kg heavier than the continuously grazed steers”, as a result of more digestible forage.

Read the full research paper here:

Impacts of soil carbon sequestration on life cycle greenhouse gas emissions in Midwestern USA beef finishing systems

This article in, Beef Producer, summarises the research.

New research says grass finishing can build soil