“Dead Zone” researcher briefs Congress on effects of ethanol policies

Larry McKinney's research has shown a possible link between corn grown for ethanol production and a lack of oxygen in the Gulf of Mexico.


Every year, nitrogen used to fertilize corn fields in the Midwest leaches into the Mississippi River and out into the Gulf of Mexico.  Experts say the fertilizer feeds a giant algae bloom, which eventually dies and settles to the Gulf floor, consuming oxygen and suffocating marine life. The area is known as a "dead zone," and many say the federal government's ethanol policies are to blame.
"There is a correlation between the increased acreage of corn being planted and fertilized in the Midwest and the size and persistence of areas of hypoxia off the Mississippi River, commonly known as the "dead zone," said Dr. Larry McKinney, Executive Director of the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A& M University-Corpus Christi.
McKinney participated in a breakfast briefing about the effects of federal ethanol polices on the health of the Gulf of Mexico on October 29, in Washington, D.C. The briefing was been organized by the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation.
The breakfast briefing focused on potential reforms in the renewable fuel standard and its impacts on fish and wildlife habitat, water quality, and marine fisheries. The mandate to use ethanol as a fuel additive was an effort to reduce United States dependence on foreign oil when it was first introduced six years ago.
"I think we need to reconsider federal policies that result in such unintended consequences or at least develop and fund federal actions to mitigate the damage," said McKinney
Experts say the ethanol polices now in place have had unintended and negative consequences on the our most valuable coastal resource, the Gulf of Mexico, as they have contributed to creation of a growing and ever more persistent area of hypoxia off the coast of Louisiana, commonly known as the "dead zone."  In 2013, the "dead zone" covered an area of 5,840 square miles.
The bi-partisan Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation includes nearly 300 members of the U.S. House and Senate representing almost all states. The CSF works at both the state and federal levels on numerous policy issues.

Illinois university receives grant to study ozone effects on corn

The University of Illinois has received a $5.7 million grant from the National Science Foundation to study the effects of ground-level ozone on corn, with the end goal being to develop an ozone-tolerant variety of corn, according to Lisa Ainsworth, associate professor in integrative biology and principal investigator on the grant.
Two other professors will be involved in the project: Andrew Leakey, assistant professor in plant biology, and Patrick Brown, assistant professor in crop sciences. The three plan to look for differences in the phenotypes of the ozone-treated and untreated corn. They then want to cross the most ozone-resistant corn with the least-resistant, creating a variation that will be resistant to ozone and provide increased yield. “Ozone concentrations in the atmosphere have more than doubled since preindustrial times,” said Ainsworth. “This is a relatively new pollutant that plants are facing, and it’s something that is decreasing yields.”
The project is slated to begin in the summer of 2013.

International Egg Commission joins Food and Agriculture Organization for sustainability

The International Egg Commission has joined the new United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization-led partnership to improve how the environmental impacts of the livestock industry are measured and assessed.
As the global consumption of meat, dairy products and eggs continues to rise, increasing attention must be paid to the livestock sector's environmental performance — such as the efficiency with which it uses scarce natural resources, its impact on water resources and how it contributes to climate change. “We see this partnership as the beginning of a 'journey' to identify ways to mitigate the impact of poultry on the environment," said Dr. Vincent Guyonnet, International Egg Commission scientific advisor, who has a seat on the project steering committee representing the egg and poultry sector. "We look forward to identifying management practices and feeding practices that have a positive impact on the environment. The partnership will provide us with a tool to identify the best concrete, practical practices which we can recommend to poultry producers to ensure further the sustainability of meat and egg production.”
Other members of the Food and Agriculture Organization partnership include the governments of France, Ireland, the Netherlands and New Zealand; The European Feed Manufacturers' Federation; the European Vegetable Oil and Proteinmeal Industry; the International Dairy Federation; the International Meat Secretariat; the International Poultry Council; the International Federation for Animal Health; and the World Wildlife Fund.

UK initiative studies environmental impact of broiler, egg production

The UK is beginning an in-depth study on the environmental impact of various broiler and egg production systems in a project funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs' LINK program, the Scottish government and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Northern Ireland.
As part of a multi-partner project looking at how the poultry sector can produce food while having less of an impact on the environment, researchers will be exploring possibilities such as a change in diet, animal husbandry and new technologies. “This exciting project will provide invaluable information to the industry on how it can reduce its impact on the environment, something that is of increasing importance to consumers as we strive to produce tasty, high-quality affordable protein for a growing global population," said Nigel Joice, vice chairman of the National Farmers' Union poultry board and member of the project steering group said. “One of the key outputs from the project will be the development of a user-friendly calculation tool to allow poultry farmers to estimate their environmental impact and model how this would change with adjustments to their husbandry or system.”
The project has been using computer modeling to look at the environmental impacts of the sector, from beginning to end, known as Lifecycle Assessment. The first stage of the project analyzed both broiler meat and egg performance across a range of production systems. The second stage is underway and is looking at possibilities for reducing the environmental impacts of production.
Partners in the three-year project are Newcastle, Cranfield and Nottingham Universities, Moy Park, O’Kane Poultry, Noble Foods, Aviagen, Harbro, DSM, Waitrose, the Soil Association and the National Farmers' Union.

US agricultural council studies pig, poultry air quality issues

A Council for Agricultural Science and Technology study on North American air quality has been released, focusing on the topic as it relates to the areas of swine, poultry, dairy and beef farming.
The goal of "Air Issues Associated with Animal Agriculture: A North American Perspective," according to researchers, is to use science-based information to help all stakeholders involved in animal production protect the environment and public health in a proactive manner and avoid costly litigation to solve nuisance suits or enforce regulations. Historically, environmental concerns and regulations of animal agriculture focused on water quality. In the past 15 to 20 years, however, air quality issues associated with the livestock and poultry industries have become a growing concern for the public, leading to increased attention on enforcing air quality regulations for animal agriculture and new multimedia regulatory efforts.
A few of the study's specific findings, composed from data for odor, hazardous gases, greenhouse gases and pollutant concentrations in animal buildings, include:

• Diet composition has a significant impact on emissions.
• Mitigation methods, such as covering the manure storage surface, can greatly decrease odor emissions.
• Aeration of the storage basin or employing anaerobic digestion of the manure will also reduce the odor, but with higher costs.

Swine production systems generate a large variety of significant air emissions, according to the report. Ammonia, H₂S, odor, volatile organic compounds, particulate matter, bioaerosols and greenhouse gases are all emitted in quantities of concern from pork production systems. This has created challenges for pork producers, because a more comprehensive approach (versus targeting one or two contaminants) is necessary to control or manage several of these air emission parameters simultaneously. But the pork industry has been quite progressive in dealing with air quality problems, funding emissions research projects and promoting practices and technologies that manage and mitigate air emissions from their production systems.
Poultry producers, on the other hand, have been concerned primarily with one airborne contaminant — ammonia — secondarily, with particulate matter and, potentially, bioaerosols. This is especially the case for layer operations, according to the report. Meat bird (broiler and turkey) producers have some concern with particulate matter levels in barns and particulate matter emissions because of the litter pack manure-handling systems. Ammonia emissions have been determined for the major housing systems used in the poultry industry, with some housing systems and/or management practices producing substantial NH₃ emission decrease.

Canada orders environmental study of biofuels

Just as a Canadian law requiring that gasoline include 5% biofuels is about to go into effect, the country’s government has ordered an environmental impact study on the manufacture of biofuels, according to Reuters news agency.
The study is a response to concerns over potential pollution resulting from biofuels manufacture. "Experiences in the U.S. and Brazil now suggest that existing biofuels production facilities are responsible for the generation of a range of new air- and water-related problems as well as recent concerns over human health," says a document from Environment Canada, the country’s environmental protection agency.
The Canadian government has committed to providing biofuels manufacturers with CAN$1.5B (US$1.4B) in subsidies over the next nine years.