L7

Question 1

How much of the habital land surface is for agriculture and how much for forests?

Answer 1

50% agriculture
37% forests

Question 2

Of the agricultural land how much is for crops and how many calories globally are derived from plants?

Answer 2

23% of ag land
82% of calories globally

Question 3

How much of agricultural land is for livestock and how much does this make up of the global calorie supply?

Answer 3

77% land
18% calories

Question 4

What is the global living planet index and how has it changed from 1970 to 2014?

Answer 4

Average abundance of 16,704 populations representing +4,000 species monitored across the globe

decline 60%
decline in the abundance of most wild animals due to the rapid acceleration in global land use

diversity and abundance have reduced

Question 5

what does AFOLU stand for?

Answer 5

Agriculture, forestry and other land use

Question 6

How much of anthropogenic emissions is AFOLU responsible for?

Answer 6

~1/4

50% of this is attributable to land use change from forest to crop land for instance

50% Ch4 and N2O from agricultural management

Question 7

What is the relationship betwen global Co2 emissions, CH4 and N2O emissions with AFOLOU?

Answer 7

AFOLU is responsible for a minority of Co2 emissions ~15% of Co2 emissions and ~12% of all emissions
but
a majority of CH4 and N2O emissions
>50% of total Non-CO2 emissions
~12% of all emissions

Question 8

What processes generate AFOLU emissions?

Answer 8

• Land use change and forestry is a big contributor
• Entric fermintation - methane produced in the body of a cow
• Rice cultivation - water demanding plants that also require methane

application of manure - fertiliser - or synthetic and the production of ammonium nitrate in factories

Question 9

How are agricultural emissions distributed globally?

Answer 9

Heterogenous distribution with hot spots in western Europe and south east asai

• function of latitude
  peat burning a big emitter
  mid latitude use of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers

Question 10

How much carbon are forests sequestering a year?

Answer 10

arond 4 gigatonnes a year

Question 11

How much do agirculture emisisnos are from synthetic fertilisers?

Answer 11

12% of total Non-co2 ag emissions

Question 12

What is the pattern of fertiliser use over the last 60 years?

Answer 12

Growoth

one of the most important industrial processes - haber bosch process that creates fertilisers was created in WW2

Question 13

Where does No2 come from?

Answer 13

-74% from agricultural soil management
8% stationary combustion, primary power plants
6% industry or chemical production

Question 14

How does the nitorgen cycle work?

Answer 14

Organic matter and N2 in the air –> NH4 –> No3 –> No2 (nitrogen dioxide which causes smog) –> No (nitric oxide) –> N2O (nitrous oxide a strong ghg)

this last reaction that produces a GHG can only occur if there is nitrate handing around in the soil
by adding fertiliser and increasing nitrate in the soil we accelerate the process that produces a ghg

Question 15

How much of ag emissions are from manure?

Answer 15

15% of total non-co2 emissions

Question 16

How is methane produced in manure breakdwon?

Answer 16

No oxygen in stored manure –> anaerobic biological activity –> methane production

Question 17

HOw is carbon dioxide prouced in manure breakdown?

Answer 17

Oxygen present in stored manure –> aerobis biological acivitiy –> carbon dioxide produced

usually more desirable than the Ch4 producing due to the more potent ghg effect of Ch4 compared to Co2 ==> about 25x

Question 18

How much of the non-co2 emissions in ag are from entric fermentation?

Answer 18

32-40%

Question 19

What is entric fermentation?

Answer 19

Microbs in the cos stomache break down cattle feed into useable sources and protein that produce methane - which is burped or faster out

95% through burping

Question 20

What contribution does global livestock contributes to total emissions? - and what is the break down of this

Answer 20

14.5% of total emissions

45% feed production and processing
39% entric fermentation
10% manure management

emissions from AFOLU are mainly meat -driven

Question 21

How does agriculture and land use change impact emissions?

Answer 21

land use change is necessary to develope cropland and pasture – drives Co2 emissions

Question 22

What are some supply-side measures to reduce supply-side measures?

Answer 22

-Reducing deforestation
- improved management of crop plants and livestock
- improved nutrient management
-mixed production systems

Question 23

What demand-side measures can be used to mitigate agricultural emissions?

Answer 23

• Changing diets
• reduced food loss and waste

Question 24

How has cropping intensity helped?

Answer 24

We have been able to grow a population and feed them without a growth in crop land - increase crops produced per unit land area

but
deforestation is projected to continue without a major change in agricultural innovation

Question 25

How much has higher crop yeilds reduced emissions since 1961?

Answer 25

161 gtc emissions avoided

due to intensive management of land and the production
in organic farming the yeilds are considerably smaller

however

yeilds are predicted to be lost due to drought and heat stress - current practices and formulas might not work in different climate futures

Question 26

How does genetic modification help agriculture?

Answer 26

modify to tolerate warmer or drier conditions in order to have the same crop to land management that we had in the past

Question 27

Why does increase crop intensity and yeilds not always lead to land sparing?

Answer 27

agricultural impacts and footprint are the result of economic and personal decisions made by famres

farmers are profit driven - buy more land and produce the same amount - motivated to support their families and max profit not reduce land use

Question 28

What is the concept of a clean cow?

Answer 28

Give a cow an enzyme inhibitor added to feed to reduce the amount of methane that it produces

allows the cow to extract the nutrients from what they are eating

but aimed to reduce emthane emissions by 25%

Question 29

Why is the timing of fertiliser improtant?

Answer 29

Has an impact on N2O emissions - apply the fertiliser when the plant is growing so it doesn’t participate in the negative reaction

if plants are too big then the fertiliser in utilised effectively

innovation in drone fertilisation to apply to plants without tractors

Question 30

What is a mixed production system

Answer 30

Idea of regenerative farming - no specific meaning but idea that there is a closed loop - livestock produces manure that you can then apply to crops and decrease the intensityof your good

but each farm ecosystem behaves differently - insufficient evidence that an integrated farm system has a consistent impact

Question 31

What is organic farming?

Answer 31

organic production is an overall system of farm management and food production that combines best environmental practices, a high level of biodiversity, the preservation of natural resources and the application of high animal welfare standards

Question 32

What are the key principles behind organic farming?

Answer 32

• no use of chemical pesticides and synthetic fertilisers
  -antibiotics are severely restricted
• GMOS not allowed
• crops are rotated

Question 33

What is the issue with less intensive agricultural production?

Answer 33

It requires more land to produce the same amount of food

not impossible to have the same yield but only on a number of plant species like fruit grown orchards

Question 34

What are some issues with organic systems?

Answer 34

Yields are not sufficiently high- have to import food from Europe or outside Europe –> potentially land use changes associated or other emissions
differing amounts of deforestation

Question 35

What amount of agricultural emissions is from transporting food?

Answer 35

~4%
but this is not a huge impact as say eating less meat

Question 36

How much of global ghg emissions come from food loss and waste?

Answer 36

6%
1/4 of food we produce is never eaten

Question 37

What are the pros and cons of eating a lower-meat diet?

Answer 37

strongly reduce agircultural emissions but it can be hard to motivate behavioural change

other organic or local food preferences don’t necessarily reduce the climate impact of agriculture