The Clarity and Leadership for Environmental Awareness and Research Center—known as the CLEAR Center at the University of California, Davis—uses research and extension to advance sustainability in animal agriculture. Team leader Frank Mitloehner, professor and air quality specialist in cooperative extension in the Department of Animal Science, joined AgriTalk’s host Chip Flory and Farm Journal’s PORK editor Jennifer Shike to discuss his message to farmers during World Pork Expo.
“One message is that I want farmers to lose their fear of things such as the term sustainability. Many farmers think this is some kind of curse word, when I think it as largely a misunderstanding,” Mitloehner says. “I think sustainability is pretty much the same as stewardship.”
Mitloehner believes stewardship means being the best steward of your land, your soil and the water on your land. That’s the natural resource and environmental part. Farmers are also the best steward of the animals they have control over.
“You are the best steward of the people who work with you, making sure you attract and retain a qualified workforce,” he adds. “You are the best steward of the product quality and safety. And last, but not least, the best steward of your financial resources.”
Mitloehner says if you were to ask a farmer and they say, ‘No, that doesn’t apply to me,’ these people better be out of business because that’s not being a good steward or sustainable.
The Five Pillars of Sustainability
- Environmental Quality
- Animal Welfare
- Product Quality and Safety
- Quality Workforce
- Financial Viability
He points out they are also the five pillars of stewardship.
“If you are a farmer, your consumers, your buyers, use the term sustainability and many of them live in cities,” he says. “Those in agriculture use the term stewardship. Isn’t it time that we mash them together? Isn’t it time we just run with it and say, ‘Let’s be proud of what we do and how we do it’ and talk with it in a way that’s not political, but resonating with the consumers we are trying to reach.”
Shike points out that pork producers are sustainable. And that’s how they stay in business.
“They wouldn’t have survived all the things that so many of them have been through without being sustainable, and being good stewards of what they’ve been entrusted to care for,” she says.
While initially some farmers have hesitated at the word sustainability, Mitloehner reminds them of the impact it has on consumers.
“If that is what sells my product to people in cities, and these are the people who pay my bills, then I better not only understand it and endorse it, but be the carrier of it. That’s your legacy,” says Mitloehner.
The sustainability message also appeals to consumers overseas.
“If we can start selling this sustainability of U.S. pork in some of those overseas Asian markets, it can help to build that market as well,” Flory says.
That also particularly applies to Europe, Mitloehner adds.
Another message Mitloehner wants to communicate with producers is the narrative around animal agriculture and sustainability is changing for the better.
“I think we’re making real progress,” he says. “I’ve seen it at the highest levels at the United Nations Food and Agriculture. The FAO, for many years, had a very negative view of animal agriculture said livestock is worse than global transportation in producing greenhouse gas. That same organization today says we can achieve our sustainability goals and use [agriculture] tools to do that.”
An additional change Mitloehner shares is the willingness of farmers to engage with consumers on many agriculture topics.
“I think that farmers are just much more open these days,” he says. “People are now more understanding of their role being informing people by asking questions rather than blocking. When a 20-year-old asks you something about an uncomfortable situation on pigs, or some environmental impact, rather than sending them the other way, more farmers now actually talk and explain.”
He points out farmers are in high regards with most consumers and are believable.
“The question is, do they want to engage? And if they do, and when they do, the result is oftentimes very good,” he adds.
The goal at the CLEAR Center is to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of animal agriculture.
“It’s not just that we do emission reduction research around bovines and other species, but we’re dealing with sustainability issues overall,” Mitloehner explains. “That spans all the way from environmental impact to animal welfare to workers. Our forte is to reduce environmental footprints.”
Mitloehner points out on the ruminant side they are looking at methane emissions through cows belching while on the pig side it deals more with manure management.
“For example, recently, we tried a new additive in pig slurry, and we had a drastic impact on greenhouse gases as well as on ammonia and hydrogen sulfide,” he says. “To see that that there are technological solutions that really have a big impact on their emissions is always a breakthrough.”
Listen to the full episode here.
