• Livestock that is fed a natural diet, rather than grain from other areas, have less impact on the environmentTwo Chicken image by Pink Lion from Fotolia.com
  
  Agriculture and food production can be a major source of emissions that contribute to global warming. Greenhouse gases emitted through agriculture and food production include carbon dioxide through fossil fuel and fertilizer use, and methane generated by livestock. According to Iowa State University, agriculture, excluding transportation, contributed 8.2 percent of the total greenhouse gas emissions in 2005. A number of techniques can help reduce the impact that methods for getting food to your table has on the environment.
  
  

Buy Local and In Season

• Food produced locally does not have to be transported as far. Buying locally helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transportation. For example, a study by the University of Iowa estimated the distance traveled by table grapes from the source to a consumption point in Des Moines, Iowa. In 1973, when people primarily ate California grapes when they were in season, grapes traveled 1,590 miles. In 1999, when grapes were being imported from Central and South America, the grapes traveled more than 2,800 miles to reach consumers. This is nearly a doubling of the resources consumed to deliver grapes. Local in-season produce, like lettuce and broccoli, travels even less. Buying local produce, eggs, and other food is a good way to green your food consumption.
  
  

Eat Organic Foods

• Organic farming limits the use of chemicals made from petrochemicals. Although many of these petrochemicals, like fertilizers and pesticides, may be cheaper to buy, their eventual impact on the environment, and the costs associated with those impacts, make them far less green than organic foods.
  Organic farming can help to store carbon in soil, a form of carbon sequestration. By sequestering carbon in soil, it is prevented from entering the atmosphere. The Rodale Institute has shown an increase of between 15 and 28 percent in soil carbon after conversion to organic farming. This means organic farming not only reduces greenhouse gas in the manufacture of agricultural products, but can help the soil sequester some carbon. According to the study, converting a single 320-acre farm to organic is equal to taking 117 cars off the road. If the entire production of just corn and soybeans in the U.S. were converted to organic gardening, it would be equivalent of taking 25 percent of American cars off the road.
  
  

Eat Lower on the Food Chain

• How much meat consumption affects the environment depends on how the livestock is raised. Livestock raised consuming natural grass in natural pastures has a far lower impact on the environment than livestock raised eating grain. Most livestock grain is not produced organically, so all the products used on the grain add greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Those grains then need to be transported to the livestock, often over great distances. That transportation further adds greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. In addition, deforestation to produce the grain for livestock removes large carbon dioxide sinks. A carbon dioxide sink removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Trees use carbon dioxide to live, so large forested areas absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide. Reducing meat consumption or changing to organic, free-range livestock can help reduce your overall food impact.