By Alice McFarlane

Agriculture Roundup for Thursday October 28, 2021

Oct 28, 2021 | 11:11 AM

MELFORT, Sask. — Canada’s beef industry has been facing pressure to reduce methane emissions.

Methane accounts for 17 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions from human activities, principally from the energy, agriculture, and waste sectors.

Canada recently signed onto the Global Methane Pledge and increased its targets for methane emissions reductions from the oil and sector. Oil and gas production is the number one source of methane emissions in Canada.

But there are no federal targets in place for the beef industry. The cattle sector said it wants to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions intensity by 33 per cent over the next 10 years.

Experts say reducing methane emissions from agriculture is a tricky scientific challenge.

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Researchers are looking into the use of feed additives, probiotics, vaccines and more to alter the gut biology of cattle and reduce methane.

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COVID-19 cases and deaths at U.S. meat packing plants were three times higher than previously estimated, according to a government report.

The five largest meatpacking companies control over 80 per cent of the beef market and 60 per cent of the pork market in the United States.

The report said there were more than 59,000 cases of COVID-19 and 269 deaths at the large plants.

The meatpacking industry was especially hard hit by the pandemic in part because its workers tend to be in close proximity for long hours.

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alice.mcfarlane@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @farmnewsNOW