Fighting climate change with agritech.

The war on climate action is far from over with many sectors seeking out ways to fight or rather reduce or eliminate the effects of these changes. Agriculture has been fingered as a major contributor to heating up of the environment through increased emission from various agricultural practices. In the heat of the climate action talks ,some school of thought proposed a zero beef diet noting that inefficiencies of cattle to properly utilize feed(basically corn) is increasing emissions in the atmosphere.Another school of thought proposed modification of feed by using certain additives to assist better utilization of feed and hence less emissions to the atmosphere ,some others came up with another solution of better enclosure for the cattle to trap the gases when released and prevent exposure to the atmosphere. Agricultural practices also was linked to climate change with exposure of top soil to carbon emissions from chemical run offs,excessive plowing e.t.c thus increasing carbon footprints and contributing to climatic changes. There is a paradigm shift now,with another school of thought proposing to fight climate change with technology that is agritech. Micheal Pollan in his new book,Cooked: A natural history of transformation explains further:Technology is central to Pollan’s vision, but, he says, “We have to think about what technology means.With the right kind of technology, Pollan believes that eating meat can actually be good for the planet. That’s right: Raising livestock, if done properly, can reduce global warming. Pollan alongside other contributors believe that that new agricultural methods wouldn’t just reduce the volume of heat-trapping gases emitted by our civilization—they would also, and more importantly, draw down the total amount of those gases that are already in the atmosphere. Depending on how you farm, your farm is either sequestering or releasing carbon,” says Pollan. Currently, the vast majority of farms, in the United States and around the world, are releasing carbon—mainly through fertilizer and fossil fuel applications but also by plowing before planting. “As soon as you plow, you’re releasing carbon,” Pollan says, because exposing soil allows the carbon stored there to escape into the atmosphere. One method of avoiding carbon release is no-till farming: Instead of plowing, a tractor inserts seeds into the ground with a small drill, leaving the earth basically undisturbed. But in addition to minimizing the release of carbon, a reformed agriculture system could also sequester carbon, extracting it from the atmosphere and storing it—especially in soil but also in plants—so it can’t contribute to global warming.continue