Greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture

Greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture are releases of gases, especially methane and nitrous oxide, generated by livestock, soils, manure management, and agricultural energy use.

Enteric fermentation: Microbial digestion in ruminant animals that produces methane, released mainly through belching. It is the principal methane source from cattle and other ruminants.
Methane inhibitors: Feed additives or compounds designed to reduce methane formation during ruminant digestion. These interventions seek to lower enteric methane without eliminating livestock production.
Global warming potential: A measure comparing the heat trapped by a greenhouse gas with that trapped by carbon dioxide over a specified period. It allows methane and nitrous oxide emissions to be compared in carbon-dioxide equivalents.
Agricultural emissions inventory: An accounting of greenhouse gases attributed to agricultural activities under defined reporting rules. Inventory boundaries determine which farm emissions are counted in this category.
Agricultural soil nitrous oxide emissions: Nitrous oxide released from agricultural soils through microbial transformations of nitrogen compounds. Fertilizer and manure nitrogen can fuel soil processes that emit nitrous oxide.
Nitrification inhibitors: Compounds that slow microbial conversion of ammonium to nitrate in soil. Slowing nitrification can reduce nitrous oxide losses from fertilized fields.
Climate change mitigation: Actions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions or increase their removal from the atmosphere. Reducing agricultural emissions is one part of limiting human-caused warming.
Land use, land-use change, and forestry: The greenhouse gas inventory sector covering land use, land conversion, and forests. It is often reported separately, although agricultural expansion links the two sectors.
Manure management: The collection, storage, treatment, and application of animal excreta. Stored and treated manure can emit methane and nitrous oxide.
Cover crops: Plants grown between or alongside cash crops to protect and improve soil. Their effects on nitrogen retention can alter agricultural nitrous oxide emissions.

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