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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple style='word-wrap: break-word;-webkit-nbsp-mode: space;-webkit-line-break: after-white-space'><div class=WordSection1><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"'>From: </span></b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"'>"USDA Office of Communications" <<a href="mailto:oc.news@usda.gov">oc.news@usda.gov</a>></span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"'>Date: </span></b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif"'>February 18, 2011 9:01:47 AM PST</span><o:p></o:p></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='display:none'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div align=center><table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width=640 style='width:480.0pt;background:white'><tr><td width=640 valign=top style='width:480.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:white'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width=640 style='width:480.0pt'><tr><td width=10 style='width:7.5pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 0in'></td><td width=620 style='width:465.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 0in'><table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width="100%" style='width:100.0%;border-collapse:collapse'><tr><td valign=top style='padding:0in 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal>Release No.0075.11<o:p></o:p></p></td><td valign=top style='padding:0in 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal align=right style='text-align:right'>Contact:<br>Marlen Eve 202-401-0979<br>Brenda Chapin 202-720-5447 <o:p></o:p></p></td></tr></table><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:12.0pt;text-align:center'><strong><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>USDA Requests Public Comment on the Development of Tools and Guidance for Estimating Greenhouse Gases </span></strong><o:p></o:p></p><p>WASHINGTON, February 18, 2011 --- The U.S. Department of Agriculture today published a notice in the Federal Register seeking public comment on a new effort to provide tools that will help farmers, ranchers and forest land owners to assess the greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint of their operations. <o:p></o:p></p><p>The project will bring together scientific experts from across USDA, other Federal agencies, and U.S. research institutions in order to develop consistent metrics for estimating changes in GHG emissions and carbon sequestration for farm, ranch and forest operations. The goal is that the new tools will provide a comprehensive, transparent approach to calculating changes in GHG emissions across all management activities within a farm, ranch or forest operation. The guidance will include ways to estimate the GHG benefit of new technologies, such as methane digesters and nitrification inhibitors (which help fertilizer stay within the root zone). <o:p></o:p></p><p>USDA has been a leader in conducting regional and national GHG inventories; and its scientists have a history of collaborative research with universities to advance the scientific understanding of agriculture’s role in helping to mitigate climate change. The current effort aims to capture the state of the science and to provide user friendly tools and guidance to farmers, ranchers and forest landowners who are interested in quantifying the GHG benefits of management changes within their operation. The guidance and tools will also be useful to USDA in assessing the ecosystem services benefits of current and future conservation programs and initiatives.<o:p></o:p></p><p>USDA’s announcement today also tracks provisions of the 2008 Farm Bill. Section 2709 of the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 states that: USDA shall prepare technical guidelines that outline science-based methods to measure carbon benefits from conservation and land management activities. The Federal Register notice can be found online at <a href="http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=50516775&msgid=359055&act=K85E&c=590864&destination=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gpoaccess.gov%2Ffr%2F">http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/</a>. Responses to the notice should be submitted by April 19, 2011. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><hr size=2 width="20%" align=center></div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><br><em><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer and lender. To file a complaint of discrimination, write: USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call (800) 795-3272 (voice), or (202) 720-6382 (TDD).</span></em><o:p></o:p></p></td><td width=10 style='width:7.5pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 0in'></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></p></div></div></div></body></html>