Ag and the Environment

Technology reduces ag’s environmental footprint
Grand Forks Agweek
Published: 11/25/2008

The efficiencies American farmers and ranchers have implemented in the last 60 years have done more to help the environment than hurt it, said an American Farm Bureau Federation environmental specialist.

“Our ability to increase our efficiencies in feed conversion, our ability to in-crease the genetics of our herd and increase the meat per animal, has basically reduced our environmental footprint, rather than increased it," said Don Parrish, AFBF Senior Director for Regulatory Relations at North Dakota Farm Bureau Convention and Exposition informational session.

Compared to 1948, across all production in agriculture, animals produce 25 per-cent less manure. At the same time, each animal we raise produces 700 percent more meat than it did in 1948. Read More

This is probably one of the least advertised stories in agriculture. In the past 80 years, we have gone from the horse drawn equipment to four wheel drive tractors that drive themselves. Also during that time, the output produced by the American farmer and rancher has skyrocketed. It continues to grow today thanks to modern production practices that maximize efficiency.