Keeping cattle grass-fed is not a climate panacea: report

Grass-fed beef fans sometimes claim that finishing cattle on forage, rather than on grain or soy, is better for the environment. But a new study from U.K.-based Food Climate Research Network (FCRN) indicates these assertions are not true.In a report dubbed “Grazed and confused?” researchers said their analysis of grass- and grain-finished animals’ net contributions to GHG emissions shows that even grass-fed animals are a net contributor to the problem. Their diet of only grasses does not offset their own emissions, let alone that of other animals, summarized Tara Garnett, an FCRN lead researcher on the study, in a blog for UK-based news analysis site The Conversation.“We asked one question: what is the net climate impact of grass-fed ruminants, taking into account all greenhouse gas emissions and removals? “We found that well-managed grazing in some contexts … can cause some carbon to be sequestered in soils. But, the maximum global potential (using generous assumptions) would offset only 20 percent to 60 percent of emissions from grazing cattle, 4 percent to 11 percent of total livestock emissions, and 0.6 percent to 1.6 percent of total annual greenhouse gas emissions,” Garnett wrote.