Get the latest delivered to your inbox
Privacy Policy

Now Reading

Piloting Innovative Beef and Dairy GHG Emission Reduction Strategies in U.S. Feedlots and Dairies

Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG) Greenhouse Gas Awardee

Piloting Innovative Beef and Dairy GHG Emission Reduction Strategies in U.S. Feedlots and Dairies

Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG) Greenhouse Gas Awardee

Published 10-10-11

Submitted by EcoAnalytics LLC

EcoAnalytics LLC and the San Francisco Carbon Collaborative, in partnership with Unison Resource Company, Global Sustainable Solutions, and KHK Consulting was awarded and finalized details to begin working on a $1,055,996 million dollar grant as a 2011 Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG) Greenhouse Gas Awardee. The winning project, the second win for EcoAnalytics in 2011, is titled "Piloting Innovative Beef and Dairy GHG Emission Reduction Strategies in U.S. Feedlots and Dairies."

Currently in the U.S. there are limited methods for dairies and feedlots to participate in carbon markets, and there is a great deal of skepticism in those sectors surrounding all aspects of GHG issues, while the global dairy sector alone contributes 4 percent of the total global anthropogenic GHG emissions. The awarded project entitled Piloting Innovative Beef and Dairy GHG Emission Reduction Strategies in U.S. Feedlots and Dairies proposes to adapt four Canadian government approved, extensively reviewed, and science-based livestock protocols from Alberta to the US, and pilot test and connect these protocols to the voluntary carbon market. This pilot project will enable key stakeholders in the beef and dairy supply chain to support this effort and demonstrate their commitment to finding GHG solutions and reducing the carbon footprint of beef producers and dairy products.

The pilot project is scheduled to occur over a three-year period with an estimated total cost of $2,111,992. Eventually the pilot project will evolve into a fully functioning program supported by market-based mechanisms for carbon, and perhaps other ecosystem services.

“This win illustrates the innovative thinking and ability of the San Francisco Carbon Collaborative to work with a broad range of stakeholders and to bring together different industries, including the agricultural sector, to achieve a common environmental goal,” says Lee West, Chairman of the San Francisco Carbon Collaborative.

With a diverse team made up of carbon market and agricultural specialists, the project will leverage specific expertise to provide a net benefit to beef and dairy producers, and the environment. The team brings a wealth of experience in all aspects of cattle project development – science, management, policy and market linkages – ensuring that the pilot can evolve into a fully functioning program continuing to expand and help producers create and sell credits into both voluntary and compliance markets long after the grant period has passed.

“Our methods aim to improve forage quality and change feed structures, such as switching from corn to soy products on beef and dairy lots throughout the country,” says Tiffany Potter, Managing Director, at EcoAnalytics. “By combining these methods with better management of stocking practices, methane and nitrous oxide emissions in cattle operations can be significantly reduced,” says Potter. “With funding from the USDA, EcoAnalytics and its partners intend to illustrate how to monetize this innovation.”

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack approved funding for this proposal through the USDA’s Conservation Innovation Grant program, which is administered by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). The program invests in innovative, on-the-ground conservation technologies and approaches, with the eventual goal of wide-scale adoption to address water quality and quantity, air quality, energy conservation, and environmental markets among other natural resource issues. NRCS received 43 CIG proposals from 28 states and only 9 received funding.

EcoAnalytics LLC - EcoAnalytics is an advisory services firm headquartered in San Francisco, California and Washington, DC. It specializes in leveraging public and private sector capital to mitigate climate change, promote investment into renewable energy and other nascent environmental markets (e.g. mitigation banking and water and nutrient trading). Their mission is to synthesize information in the environmental marketplace and provide resources, technical services, and analytical tools that build capacity among investors, regulators, scientists, and developers to monetize eco-assets and equity level investments around the world. Learn more at www.EcoaData.com

The San Francisco Carbon Collaborative - The San Francisco Carbon Collaborative is a non-profit partnership of government, business, and environmental organizations working to accelerate the development of effective policy and market-based responses to climate change. The organization achieves its objective by delivering programs that: foster multi-stakeholder collaboration; build sector capacity; support the development of just, inclusive, and effective public policies, and; catalyze the creation, commercialization, and deployment of environmentally friendly technologies. Learn more at http://www.carboncollaborative.org.

EcoAnalytics LLC

EcoAnalytics LLC

EcoAnalytics is a one-stop-shop for market intelligence for managing eco-assets that include carbon offsets, renewable energy credits, mitigation and endangered species banking credits, and nutrient and water trading. The company’s mission is to synthesize information in the environmental marketplace and provide resources, contracts, services, and analytical tools that build capacity among investors, regulators, scientists, and developers. Our company’s strength is our ability to help our clients monetize eco-assets around the world. Our subscription based tools list and describe the basics required to invest, deploy, operate, certify, and validate eco asset projects. We help clients evaluate standards (e.g. CAR, ACR VCS, and, LEED) when designing new projects. We help them understand operating costs and operation schemes for validation, verification, and monitoring processes, and find investment capital for project development. We host and provide training sessions for standards and verification processes and perform assessment and due diligence of Environmental Trust Funds, Funds of Funds, and private equity funds. We help clients understand risk scenarios and identify liabilities and other relevant constraints on operations

More from EcoAnalytics LLC

Join today and get the latest delivered to your inbox