To reach net zero by 2050, the UK must reduce greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture and methane emissions from farm livestock pose a thorny problem. Ruminants such as cattle and sheep emit methane from their digestive systems and their manure. Scientists are trying to find ways to reduce these methane emissions without wiping out large parts of the agricultural industry.
But my recent field research on dairy farms suggests emissions from slurry, cattle dung mixed with water, could be four to five times greater than the official government estimates.
While most attention is focused on enteric emissions, largely the burps from the animals themselves, my new study with colleagues means that much more attention needs to be paid to how to reduce methane emissions from storing slurry.
