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  • From: "William H Shoemaker" <wshoemak AT illinois.edu>
  • To: "'Market Farming'" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Greens are the beef of vegetarianism
  • Date: Thu, 17 Jun 2010 07:34:54 -0500

Nice job of researching the issue Nan. Pretty complex.

I'm certain that Dr. BoingBoing is referring to greenhouses that are heated.
An unheated tunnel is not going to generate much greenhouse gas. Sure, the
plants respire, but plants in heated greenhouse respire much more. Unheated
tunnel greens are going to generate negligible amounts of greenhouse gas.
Greens shipped from the west coast generate negligible amounts as well,
other than large amounts of methane-generated nitrogen fertilizer from farm
equipment. But the trucks that haul the greens to the east coast generate
plenty. Don't listen to Dr. BoingBoing. Grow greens in your tunnels as far
into the winter as you can. Besides, they are a much better source of
nutrition, food safety and security than the highly centralized food system
you compete against.

Bill
William H. Shoemaker
Sr. Research Specialist, Food Crops
University of Illinois - Crop Sciences
St Charles Horticulture Research Center
535 Randall Road, St Charles, IL, 60174
630-584-7254, FAX-584-4610
wshoemak AT illinois.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: market-farming-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:market-farming-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Nan Hildreth
Sent: Wednesday, June 16, 2010 10:49 PM
To: Market Farming
Cc: RobertARandall AT comcast.net; TimCMock-gmail.com
Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Greens are the beef of vegetarianism

Everyone is right, I'd say. I read last week
that they fly baby greens from Africa to
Europe. But local, organic greens are MUCH, MUCH
better than beef according to the EPA 2010
Greenhouse Gas
Inventory.http://epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/downloads10/US-GHG-Inventor
y-2010_Chapter6-Agriculture.pdf

I got a wild hair to dig into this. I got my
arms around the nitrogen cycle, not that we're
best friends yet. Here's my report.

Agricultural methane has more impact on the
climate than
cars.
http://www.grist.org/article/2009-05-21-on-cow-burps-meat-and-methane/
Ag nitrous oxide emissions are an even bigger
deal.
http://epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/downloads10/US-GHG-Inventory-2010_Cha
pter6-Agriculture.pdf
But the EPA dodged the question of the climate
impact of transporting food, on the average,
1,000 miles to market. Guy Dauncey claims that
meat production, including transport, is 18% of
global greenhouse gases (GHGs), more than global
transport.
http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/climate-solutions/the-solution-on-our-dinn
er-plates

Cow burps and farts account for 3/4 of ag
methane. (Chicken and horse digestion is
different.) Anaerobic rotting of manure is the
second main source.
http://epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/downloads10/US-GHG-Inventory-2010_Cha
pter6-Agriculture.pdf


The biggie, nitrous oxide comes mainly from
wasted chemical fertilzer and anaerobic
rot.
http://www.ghgonline.org/nitroustempsoil.htm
And vast amounts of GHGs are emitted in making
synthetic fertilizer.
http://www.grist.org/article/2009-11-11-the-dark-side-of-nitrogen
If you add nitrogen when some other nutrient
deficiency is limiting plant growth, then nitrous
oxide emissions from the soil zoom. In tropical
or subtropical soils, like mine, typically
nitrogen is not the limiting
factor.
http://www.ghgonline.org/nitroustropsoil.htm
Emissions are twice as high when anhydrous
ammonia instead of urea supplies the N in
N-P-K. http://soil.scijournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/74/2/407

If your soil is soggy or short on air due to
compaction, organic matter rots
anaerobically. So your good organic nitrogen is
lost to the air as N2 emitting nasty nitrous
oxide in the process. http://www.ghgonline.org/nitroustropsoil.htm

The good news for the climate is that the price
of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer has gone up
about 75% since
2006.
http://www.mongabay.com/images/commodities/charts/chart-index_fertilizers.ht
ml
It should climb slowly and then in 2018, climb
quickly as global natural gas production starts
to fall. http://www.hubbertpeak.com/gas/

US natural gas production is already in decline
and US N fertilizer production dropped 40%
between 1998 and 2008. In ten years, maybe 12
years, we will be asking Russia for an ammonia
fix.
http://www.grist.org/article/2010-02-11-tracking-u.s.-farmers-supply-nitroge
n-fertilizer

National energy independence? How about
fertilizer independence? Appreciate our manure.

Nan still searching for a great hot weather green for zone 8b.

At 02:35 PM 6/16/2010, John Paul Endicott wrote:
>Interesting article. I can't say I'm surprised:
>
><http://www.boingboing.net/2010/06/16/arugula-the-beef-of.html>http://www.b
oingboing.net/2010/06/16/arugula-the-beef-of.html
>
>Depending on where you live, eating baby spinach
>or arugula is almost like eating a burger, in
>terms of greenhouse gas emissions. It's that
>intense. Sure, if you live in the Central Valley
>of California, or in Florida, not so. But most
>people live very far from those places. If you
>live east of longitude 100 [Draw a line through
>the middle of the Dakotas-MKB] and north of,
>say, Jesse Helms country, you have no business
>eating greens at all between October and June.
>Again, you know, you're free to do whatever you
>want, but if you want to be really careful about
>your greenhouse gas footprint, this is what you should do.
>
>_______________________________________________
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Nan Hildreth 713-842-6643

Action is the antidote to despair....
Joan Baez

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