Livestock A-team assembled

A professor at University of California, Davis, has been appointed to chair a United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization committee to analyze the environmental impact of the livestock industry.

Frank Mitloehner (pictured), an air-quality specialist, will lead representatives from national governments, the meat and dairy industries and nonprofit organizations in assessing the sustainability of the livestock industry, according to a UC Davis press release. The committee’s three-year project will quantify livestock’s carbon footprint—that is, their farts—and assemble data on such things as the environmental pressures from livestock water consumption.

The environmental impact of raising and processing livestock is of particular significance as the Food and Agriculture Organization estimates worldwide meat consumption will increase by about 73 percent by 2050, while dairy consumption will increase by 58 percent.