New Alliance to Study Greenhouse Gases in Agriculture

Twenty-one nations will examine farming activities that might add

to global warming. Transcript of radio broadcast:

Tuesday, January 05, 2010

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Experts say that agriculture provides fourteen percent of the world's

greenhouse gas emissions each year. The gases released include
carbon dioxide, a major cause of global warming.

Twenty-one nations around the world recently joined forces to

better understand and prevent greenhouse gas emissions from
farms. The Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse
Gases was launched at the United Nations conference on climate
change.

The meeting took place in Copenhagen, Denmark last month.

Agricultural experts blame a number

of farm activities for producing
greenhouse gases. For example,
animal waste and cattle digestive
systems release methane gas.
Fertilized soil and the burning of crop
waste also release harmful gases into
the air. Experts say some methods
Milk cows at a farm outside of tilling -- turning the soil to prepare
Jerome, Idaho
for planting – also release harmful
carbon dioxide.

An official of the European Commission's Directorate General for

Research says agricultural greenhouse gas emissions can be cut.

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Maive Rute suggests feeding animals a diet designed to reduce
emissions.

The new agricultural research group says protecting against global

warming is only part of its purpose. It says the world also needs to
develop better farming methods to feed growing populations in poor
countries.

United States Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said no one single

nation can fight agricultural greenhouse gas emissions and increase
food production at the same time. This is why the alliance is
important for combining resources and finding new ones.

The United States Department of Agriculture will increase spending

on farm emissions research by ninety million dollars over the next
four years. The total will reach one hundred thirty million dollars.
The U.S.D.A. will share the research with other countries in the
Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases.

The U.S.D.A. will support researchers from developing countries

that belong to the alliance. Money from the Borlaug Fellowship
program will let the researchers study agricultural climate change
with American scientists.

Mister Vilsack said that just as climate change has no borders, there
should be no borders for research.

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by

Jerilyn Watson. You can comment on our programs at
voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

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