Within the ag community, being proactive when it comes to looking at climate change can be a difficult conversation to start. Todd Nash, the President-Elect of the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association says one way that the cattle industry can help with climate change is through wildfire mitigation efforts. For example, especially timed grazing can help bring back some of the much-needed grasses and keep fuels in check during the most important times of the year. “Resource-wise, for the land, for the health of people, and the air conditions, there’s a lot of benefits that we can derive from using livestock as a tool,” Nash said.
Nash also talked about how grazing gives a variety of benefits for land management agencies, communities, and taxpayers. He said that looking back at history, the climate has been changing in small and large ways forever. He did say that he has yet to see a glacier as large as the one that carved the Pacific Northwest years ago, so change is the name of the game.
“We’re moving through time, I think we need to be good stewards and accommodate the best we can, but also understand that we’ve seen some dramatic climate changes throughout the history of this planet, and the ones that we’re experiencing now could be completely different 20 years from now,” Nash mentioned.
He brought up the fact that the livestock industry is helping out as well by using land not suitable for crops. He said that this creates a wildlife habitat that’s vital to the environment and naturally sequesters carbon while making sure that food keeps on getting produced to feed the growing population.
