https://ec.europa.eu/eip/agriculture/en/find-connect/projects/bovine-beef-innovation-network-europe
Beef production generates greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions accounting for six per cent of all human-induced emissions. Nevertheless, studies reveal that knowledge gaps exist among beef farmers about the use of innovative practices to reduce GHG emissions. Beef production can also regulate climate through carbon storage in grassland. Fernández Terreros' family of farmers, from Muskiz, participates in the Life Beef Carbon project whose objective is to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases linked to the production of beef.They are participating in this project to reduce emissions from their 170 limousine race heads. The good practices they are introducing are based on improving animal feed to make it more efficient, or reducing the use of cereal feed. They sow part of the farm (40 ha) with a mix of legumes and grasses and get a quality feed that increases digestibility, helping to reduce the emissions of rumenal methane that cows cause.
Implementation
Since 2013 we are involved an environmental commitment program managed by the Provincial Council of Bizkaia. Our objective is the search for a quality production compatible with sustainable agri-environmental practices. During this time we have been incorporating practices to improve our performance in terms of sustainability. We are in a program to control nutrients in the soil, sowing nitrogen-fixing species...
The benefit was that the reduction of CH4 emissions was the main opportunity to participate in this project, giving us the chance to introduce good practices in our activity. The challenge is that the introduction of this good practices is costly, but this project helped us in the process to implement this practices. The key success factors were raising awareness about climate change and the relevance of reducing CH4 emissions is essential to succeed in this process.
Lessons learned
- Good relationship with Lorra (technical advisers)
- Awareness about climate change and its effects
- Farmers willing to implement changes in their farms
Impact
