On the Farm – Trouble on the farm

Oh dear, the farmers are revolting again. This time it’s a howl of protest, or is it anguish? There’s a long list of grievances. It’s perhaps not surprising, given that farmers are classed as essential workers, but however poorly paid or dissatisfied with working conditions, don’t get to strike or demand a pay rise. Farmers basically work for the banks, to whom they are indebted up to their necks. And as we’ve discussed before, the urban-rural divide means there’s scant understanding of the lives of our food producers, including among those in the corridors of power. Farmers are a minority sector and don’t feel their voices are heard.

Last time, it was that fart tax debacle. Farmers got let off really lightly didn’t they, with not being brought under the emissions trading scheme? For me, as a farmer, it seems similar to the way the old vegetarian debate plays out.

You know how it goes – incredibly nutritious protein is disregarded in favour of hard-to-digest plant matter. It’s the old baby and bath water sleight of hand trick. Let me explain …

Ruminants like sheep and cattle are unique among mammals in having the incredible ability to digest the fibrous cell walls of plants, thanks to the bacteria that live in their multi-chambered stomachs. Thus they can turn useless material into highly nutritious food, both for themselves and other creatures in the food chain of life on earth. A by-product of this is the gas, methane. However, for 90 million years the methane produced has been effectively mopped up and incorporated back into the carbon cycle by methane-oxidising bacteria in the soil.

Another oft overlooked fact is that the numbers of wild ruminants have decreased catastrophically, such that most are now rare and endangered. Domestic ruminants producing food for humans have basically taken their place in terms of biomass on the planet. Thus, there has been no net increase in methane-producing creatures, and no evidence that there has been any increase in methane from this source.

To find the source of any rising atmospheric methane levels, we might look instead at known sources of fossil methane (gas that was previously locked up rather than harmlessly cycling in the carbon cycle). For example, oil and natural gas extraction.

So, like always, the devil is in the detail. To farm livestock sustainably, without contributing to any putative methane leakage out of the system, you need a healthy soil, chock-full of those wonderful methane-gobbling bacteria. Now, here’s the rub: methanotrophic (methane loving) bacteria are chemically sensitive and much reduced by high use of industrial agrichemicals, as well as by acidification and soil disturbance – read, modern farming practices.

So, instead of trying to tamper with 90 million years of evolution by altering the gut microbes of ruminants and rendering them less effective at their job, and instead of taxing farmers for the fact that their livestock are doing a great job, we would be far better off tweaking the way we’re farming, in order to encourage these little guys who’re working for us in our soils, so that our soils can then do their job of being a highly effective methane and carbon sink.