Farmers have important jobs. They make food for people around the world. The workers grow crops. They raise animals. However, some farming practices hurt our planet. For example, people cut down trees to give cows room to . But don’t let that get your moooo-d down. Scientists worked with farmers in Brazil to find a solution! The experts released a report on March 17.
Peter Newton is a scientist in Colorado. He worked on the report. Newton explained the idea behind the study. “Brazilian farmers produce a lot of beef,” he told News-O-Matic. “But cows need a lot of space to graze,” he added. “In Brazil, a lot of grasslands have been created by chopping down the Amazon rainforest.”
This deforestation fuels . Trees in the Amazon rainforest store greenhouse gases. They include carbon dioxide. But when people chop down those trees, the gases are released. The gases trap heat. This leads to climate change.
Luckily, the scientists have a solution. “One way to protect the forests is by grazing more cows on less land,” Newton shared. However, “this type of farming requires special skills,” the scientist said. Learning a new skill can be hard. “It helps if there’s someone who can show us how,” Newton said.
Newton and his team were those helpers. “Our study looked at whether farmers would start using more environmentally friendly farming methods if they were given information about how to do so,” Newton explained.
The scientists taught hundreds of Brazilian farmers new skills. “One group of farmers was taught skills in a large group,” Newton said. “Those farmers did not change their farming style,” he added.
“Another group was first taught the new skills in a large group, but then also had follow-up lessons on their own farm,” Newton said. Those extra lessons were one-on-one with an expert. “The second group of farmers did improve their farming methods,” Newton said. “They were able to graze more cows on less land, they made more money, and they lowered their farms’ greenhouse gas !” That means the farmers had less of an effect on climate change.
The scientists hope their study will help make farming more . The researchers learned how important it is to talk to farmers about environmentally friendly practices. And Newton said: “The way in which that knowledge is taught makes a big difference.”
Updated March 22, 2022, 5:02 P.M. (ET)
By Alexa Tirapelli
