Work to reduce environmental footprint of animal ag comes under attack

Agricultural research at land-grant universities is an important part of the story of the success of U.S. agriculture of the past century. One university researcher working on mitigating the livestock industry’s role in climate change came under attack this week for the sin of… working with the livestock industry?

This week the New York Times and the environmental activist group Greenpeace targeted the CLEAR Center at the University of California-Davis, and the efforts of the Center and its founder to reduce the footprint of animal agriculture by calling to question the Center’s source of funding and its close ties to animal agriculture groups. 

Dr. Frank Mitloehner, Director of the Center and a University of California-Davis faculty member, joined us Thursday on the Feedstuffs 365 livestream channel to share his thoughts on why it's important that animal agriculture works together to address the issue of sustainability, and to respond to the attacks on his credibility.

Watch the full interview with Dr. Mitloehner at Feedstuffs 365; he discusses sources of funding in agricultural research and what the attacks on his work say about the broader effort of activist groups to put animal agriculture out of business. You can also read more of our coverage of the impacts of climate change on the livestock industry in the pages of Feedstuffs. You can find our latest issue and past editions by visiting Feedstuffs.com and clicking on “Digital Editions.”