Raising livestock Coal mining and drilling for oil and natural gas Rice cultivation Disposing of garbage in landfills Burning forests and fields Raising Rice Raises Methane Farmland for rice has doubled in 45 years. Rice, the most important grain crop, feeds one-third of the world's people. Most types of rice grow in flooded fields. Bacteria in the waterlogged soil release methane.
More livestock means more methane.
Every Time Cattle Burp, Methane is Released Bacteria in the gut of cattle break down the food these animals eat, converting some of it to methane gas. A cow can belch up to a half-pound of methane a day. Sheep, goats, buffalo and camels also belch methane. Because of rapidly growing world population and greater demand for meat and dairy products, the number of cattle has doubled in the past 40 years. There are now 1.3 billion cattle, each burping methane several times a minute.