Measuring a product's carbon footprint is all the rage these days as researchers backtrack everything from the fuel used to run tractors and trucks to the electricity it takes to produce a product. When it comes to milk, Purdue University researchers are going to add another dimension with a new study: cow gas.

The researchers are starting a new study to measure emissions from dairy cows as part of an industry-wide effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions related to fluid milk. The study is being funded by the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy and is one of several looking at the carbon footprint for milk. Methane, one emission from cows, is considered to be a much more potent (no pun intended) greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

These measurements will help determine just how much dairy cattle contribute to U.S. emissions. A preliminary look at the issue last year showed that the dairy industry accounted for less than 2% of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. As part of the more extensive research carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide will be monitored at five barn sites and two manure lagoons in Indiana, Wisconsin, California, Washington and New York. Mobile labs for the National Air Emissions Monitoring Study will be used for the work.

Data will be collected through Jan. 31, and chances are there will be preliminary information available later in 2010.

Biofuels Could Hurt Water. With results that could upset many involved in raising corn for biofuels, Purdue University has issued results of a study showing that raising more corn could be trouble for water sources. The study measured water sources found near fields in a continuous corn rotation. The water had higher sources of nitrogen, fungicides and phosphorus than corn-soybean rotation fields. The results were published in an early online version of The Journal of Environmental Engineering.

Researchers measured higher levels of sediment losses from continuous corn fields. Those sediments allow more fungicide and phosphorus to get into the water. Nitrogen and fungicides are more heavily used in corn crops than soybeans, the researchers say. Interestingly, the researchers note there was no significant change in the amount of atrazine detected in water near fields that changed to continuous-corn; due in large part because the crop protection product sticks to plant material and degrades in sunlight.

With more farmers looking at corn as a sole crop on at least some ground, managing sediments through changed tillage practices could be very important. This study, funded by USDA and Purdue, offers information that farmers should consider as they look at corn management practices.

Adding Health to Soybeans. Soybeans have always been a great source of protein, but the little bean is also packed with tocopherols (we call them Vitamin E sometimes) - which have plenty of other great nutrition values. There are four types of tocopherols - alpha, beta, gamma and delta - represented by their actual Greek symbols. Of the four, gamma-tocopherol is most prevalent in soybeans, but alpha-tocopherol has the most antioxidant activity when it's converted to vitamin E in the body.

Researchers at McGill University, the Centre de Recharche sur les Grains and Agriculture and AgriFood Canada in Quebec are working on how to boost alpha-tocopherol content in soybeans. They're learning that a lot has to do with the variety and agronomic practices; yet there are ways to boost the preferred tocopherol content in the bean. They're working early-maturing varieties, which could offer an added-value opportunity for soybean growers in the northern half of the Midwest. The work is still ongoing, but the hope is that someday soybean producers would have another way to make money on their crops.