BIOMASS HUB

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture (USDA), Tom Vilsack, delivered a keynote address at an event in Copenhagen yesterday where he discussed the importance of the Obama Administration partnering with rural communities to create solutions for curbing greenhouse gases and preventing the worst impacts of climate change.  The event, Clean Energy Investments: Creating Opportunities for Rural Economies, was held at the U.S. Center at COP-15.

Secretary Vilsack kicked off his talk by highlighting a report released by the USDA outlining the impact climate change will have on America’s ecosystem.  The report analyzes the effects of climate change on natural resources and ecosystems services in the U.S. over the next several decades and concludes that effects are already being felt.  Among the effects:

• Grain and oilseed crops will mature more rapidly, but increasing temperatures will increase the risk of crop failures, particularly where precipitation decreases or becomes more variable.
• Livestock mortality will decrease with warmer winters; however this will be more than offset by greater mortality in hotter summers. Hotter temperatures will also result in reduced productivity of livestock and dairy animals, due to changes in consumption and lower pregnancy rates.
• Weeds grow more rapidly under elevated atmospheric CO2, extend their range northward, and are less sensitive to herbicide applications.
• Disease and pest prevalence will escalate as a result of shorter, warmer winters, challenging crop, livestock, and forest systems.

During his talk, Secretary Vilsack also announced a historic agreement between the USDA and U.S. dairy farmers to accelerate the development of manure to energy systems and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions:

Today, the USDA and US dairy farmers are announcing that we are entering into an historic agreement to help accelerate the development of manure to energy systems and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  We know that anaerobic digesters that convert animal manure into electricity are a powerful renewable resource. One 700 head dairy herd can power 200 homes with electricity.  Yet, currently the United States is only utilising dairy power on two percent of the farms that serve as candidates for profitable and sustainable sources of energy.

Secretary Vilsack has signed the memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the USDA and the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy.

Image: Flickr/James Thorpe