Grant allows UNL to study climate, livestock

Animals used in agriculture play an important role in Nebraska industry. Climate change affects these animals in different ways.

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension received a $4.1 million from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture to study these effects. The five-year grant will allow the university to work with producers in agriculture to start an ongoing effort and deliver information to farmers about how agriculture affects their animals and practices to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

UNL will work with five universities in the United States, said Rick Stowell, the associate professor and extension specialist at UNL in charge of the grant.

"The needs for producers is different in other regions," he said.

The first goal of the project is to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions caused by the livestock industry.

While the industry produces a small amount of greenhouse gas emissions compared to other industries, Stowell said one of the goals is to try and refine managing feed programs and reduce emissions.

"We'd like to see if there are additional practices that minimize greenhouse gases," he said.

The other goal is to help ease the stress of animals in weather caused by climate change.

"We've had a lot of animal stress because of hot weather," Stowell said. "This hot, humid weather we've had all across the country has been hard on animals."

In other states, poultry have died, and in South Dakota, beef cattle have died.

"And with the flooding and drought, there's the issues of having too much water or not enough (in Nebraska)," Stowell said.

UNL would be working with corporations like the Nebraska Cattlemen.

Kristen Koch, director of natural resources and environmental affairs for Nebraska Cattlemen, said the research would also help corporations like the Nebraska Cattlemen better adapt business practices.

"I think there's no better place than UNL to study how climate change affects agriculture," she said. "I'm excited for the interaction with UNL and the producers."

Koch said the grant showed that UNL was engaging stockholders in the process, as she had attended stockholder meetings where she gave her thoughts on a livestock producer perspective.

She said asking producers what they wanted UNL to focus on in terms of agricultural research was a key part of the grant.

"This grant isn't what a professor thought of," she said.

Stowell said that the researchers hope to have a consistent message and to have producers well informed.

This message would be shared with producers via the Internet, he said.

"There's a lot of research going on in this, so in the next five to 10 years, we're going to get a lot of information coming out," he said. "And we want to get that out as quickly and efficiently as possible to the producers."