As we approach Earth Day this Friday, April 22, please remember that when farmers and ranchers say Earth Day is every day, they aren't just blowing smoke. Farmers and ranchers depend on the land for their livelihoods. They wouldn't do anything to destroy it. American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall said in a recent editorial, "With a growing population and increased needs for food, fuel and fiber, farmers are rising to the challenge through efficiency and sustainability practices. Over the last 30 years, ag emissions per capita in the U.S. have gone down 20%."
Farmers and ranchers are at the forefront of climate-smart farming, putting scientific solutions, technology and innovation to work to protect our land, air and water.
• Numbers from the Environmental Protection Agency continue to show that U.S. farmers and ranchers are leading the way in caring for our land, air and water. According to the latest numbers from EPA, U.S. agriculture reduced its overall emissions by 4.3% from 2019 to 2020.
• America’s farmers and ranchers are doing more with less. Compared to 1990, farmers would have needed almost 100 million additional acres to harvest the same amount of corn, cotton, rice, soybeans and wheat they produced in 2018.
• Not only is agriculture’s overall emissions low, farmers and ranchers are taking active steps to make their footprint even smaller. For instance, according to EPA statistics, U.S. pork production is up by 80% but per-unit emissions are down by 20%. U.S. milk production is up by 48% but per-unit emissions are down by 26%.
• More than 140 million acres of U.S. farmland are used for conservation efforts and wildlife habitats—that land area is equal to the states of California and New York combined.
• Farmers are embracing and growing renewable energy. Biofuels are an American-grown energy success story, reducing our country’s emissions and increasing our energy independence. Over the last decade, nearly 3 trillion pounds of corn have been used to produce clean, renewable ethanol for blending into motor fuels. The reduction in GHGs from the use of ethanol and biodiesel in 2018 was equal to taking 18 million cars off the road.
Farmers and ranchers are doing so much to feed and clothe us, and they are doing it more efficiently, using less resources every day.
"Every day is Earth Day on the farm," says Duvall. "But that isn’t just a nice sentiment for us. We back those words with our actions and our way of life. Sustainability is just what we do, 365 days a year."