DAILY Bites

• New Yale-led research challenges global assumptions, showing lime can remove carbon dioxide from soil rather than emit it.

• Acidic inputs from fertilizer and pollution, not lime itself, are the main driver of carbon dioxide emissions from agricultural soils.

• The study calls for revised emissions policy that targets acid addition, not liming, to better support food security and climate goals.

DAILY Discussion

Adding lime to agricultural soils can remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, rather than cause carbon dioxide emissions, according to new research.

The findings, based on over 100 years of data from the Mississippi River basin and detailed computer modeling, run counter to international guidelines on reducing agricultural emissions.

The research was presented Wednesday during the Goldschmidt Conference in Prague.

The team, from the Yale Centre for Natural Carbon Capture at Yale University, shows that the addition of acidity, in the form of atmospheric pollution and fertilizers, is the main driver for carbon dioxide emissions from soils. By calculating emissions based on acid inputs, they show how emissions may be being underestimated in some cases and the potential for lime to reduce emissions is being overlooked.

A significant proportion of agricultural emissions is linked to soils. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change calculates that all the carbon in lime, when added to agricultural soils to reduce acidity, is emitted as carbon dioxide, although some countries use a lower figure.

When lime is added to soil, it reacts with carbonic acid to create bicarbonate, calcium and magnesium. If there are strong acids present in the soil, such as nitric or sulfuric acid, these will react with the bicarbonate to create carbonic acid and release carbon dioxide.

Lead author Dr. Tim Jesper Suhrhoff, from the Yale Centre for Natural Carbon Capture, said: “It is the reaction of acidity with the carbonate that creates carbon dioxide emissions, not the addition of the lime itself. In the absence of the strong acids, the liming would not lead to any emissions and would actually remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through the formation of bicarbonate.

“Current guidelines that penalize liming assume that if we didn’t lime, there would be no emissions, but that’s not the case,” he noted. “If we continue to add acidity to the soil, it will react with remaining natural pools of alkalinity to create emissions. By penalizing liming, rather than the addition of acids, we are targeting the wrong driver and potentially losing the other benefits that liming can bring, in terms of increased yields and lower nitrous oxide emissions.”

The researchers use data from the Mississippi River basin, collected since 1900, to calculate the impact of atmospheric pollution, fertilizer use and liming on carbon dioxide emissions. They show that the combination of industrial pollution from fossil fuel burning and increasing use of nitrogen fertilizers since the 1930s has created high levels of acidity in the soil which have not been counterbalanced by liming.

Since the 1930s, when limestone application to croplands substantially increased, both the efficacy and efficiency of carbon dioxide removal has also increased, as indicated by river records and model results. Researchers estimated that today removal is occurring at approximately 75 percent of the theoretical maximum rate.

The researchers call for a reconsideration of policy on agricultural emissions, with emissions being linked to addition of acid fertilizers rather than lime. However, they noted that this needs to be handled with care.

“We have known for a long time that liming is great for farmers and global food security,” Suhrhoff said. “What we show here is that over longer timescales, it is also an efficient way to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Adding a large amount of silicate rock to neutralize the acidity, before moving to liming, may be the best strategy to limit emissions and gain the additional benefits that liming can bring.”

Just one week after plans to reopen U.S. ports to cattle, bison, and equine imports from Mexico were published, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins ordered the border closed again, on July 9, following a new report of New World Screwworm detected closer to the U.S. border.

On Wednesday, Mexico’s National Service of Agro-Alimentary Health, Safety, and Quality reported the new case of New World Screwworm in Ixhuatlan de Madero, Veracruz in Mexico, which is approximately 160 miles northward of the current sterile fly dispersal grid, on the eastern side of the country and 370 miles south of the U.S.-Mexico border.

This new northward detection comes approximately two months after northern detections were reported in Oaxaca and Veracruz, less than 700 miles away from the U.S. border, which triggered the closure of our ports to Mexican cattle, bison, and horses on May 11, 2025.

While the U.S. Department of Agriculture had announced a risk-based phased port re-opening strategy for cattle, bison, and equine from Mexico beginning as early as July 7, 2025, this newly reported NWS case raises significant concern about the previously reported information shared by Mexican officials and severely compromises the outlined port reopening schedule of five ports from July 7 to September 15. Therefore, in order to protect American livestock and our nation’s food supply, Rollins has ordered the closure of livestock trade through southern ports of entry effective immediately.

“The United States has promised to be vigilant — and after detecting this new NWS case, we are pausing the planned port reopening’s to further quarantine and target this deadly pest in Mexico. We must see additional progress combatting NWS in Veracruz and other nearby Mexican states in order to reopen livestock ports along the Southern border,” said U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins. “Thanks to the aggressive monitoring by USDA staff in the U.S. and in Mexico, we have been able to take quick and decisive action to respond to the spread of this deadly pest.”

To ensure the protection of U.S. livestock herds, USDA also says that they’re holding Mexico accountable by ensuring proactive measures are being taken to maintain a NWS free barrier. This is maintained with stringent animal movement controls, surveillance, trapping, and following the proven science to push the NWS barrier south in phases as quickly as possible.

In June, Rollins had announced a plan that she says would protect the border at all costs, increasing eradication efforts in Mexico, and increasing readiness. USDA also announced the groundbreaking of a sterile fly dispersal facility in South Texas. This facility will provide a critical contingency capability to disperse sterile flies should a NWS detection be made in the southern United States. Simultaneously, the USDA also says that it is moving forward with the design process to build a domestic sterile fly production facility to ensure it has the resources to push NWS back to the Darien Gap. USDA is working on these efforts in lockstep with the border states Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas,  as it will take a coordinated approach with federal, state, and local partners to keep this pest at bay and out of the U.S.

USDA will continue to have personnel perform site visits throughout Mexico to ensure the Mexican government has adequate protocols and surveillance in place to combat this pest effectively and efficiently.

The Trump administration has filed a federal lawsuit against California, arguing that the state’s animal welfare laws related to egg production are driving up prices across the country and infringing on federal authority.

According to Reuters, the Department of Justice filed the suit Wednesday in a Los Angeles federal court, asserting that California’s laws violate the Egg Products Inspection Act of 1970, which sets nationwide standards for egg safety and labeling. The law is meant to ensure uniformity and protect consumers, and federal officials claim that California’s more stringent rules on hen housing and out-of-state egg imports interfere with that federal mandate.

The lawsuit targets a couple of California laws: AB 1437, Proposition 2 (passed by voters in 2008) and Proposition 12 (approved in 2018). These measures prohibit the sale of eggs from hens that are confined in ways that prevent them from standing, lying down, turning around, or fully extending their limbs. The administration argues that the measures amount to “unnecessary red tape” that disrupts egg supply chains and forces price hikes on consumers nationwide.

“Americans across the country have suffered the consequences of liberal policies causing massive inflation for everyday items like eggs,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement, adding that the Trump administration will “use the full extent of federal law” to ease those regulatory burdens.

The lawsuit names California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Attorney General Rob Bonta, and other officials as defendants. Newsom’s office responded on X, writing, “Trump’s back to his favorite hobby: blaming California for literally everything.”

Proposition 12, in particular, has been the center of multiple legal challenges. In 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the measure in a separate case involving pork producers, ruling that California could set minimum animal welfare standards for products sold within the state, even if the products come from outside its borders.

Still, the Trump administration argues that Proposition 12 has “caused a significant increase in egg prices,” and that its standards are not grounded in scientific evidence. As Fox Business highlighted, the lawsuit claims California’s regulations have “effectively prevented farmers across the country from using a number of agricultural production methods which were in widespread use — and which helped keep eggs affordable.”

The Department of Justice also noted that California’s rules treat violations as criminal offenses, with potential penalties of up to a $1,000 fine and 180 days in jail, as well as civil actions under unfair competition laws.

“Bureaucratic red tape and unnecessary regulations implemented by the State of California have made the cost of everyday goods, like eggs, less affordable for Americans,” said Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate. “This Department of Justice will work to free consumers from this regulatory burden and bring economic prosperity to families.”

As Politico points out, egg prices became a political flashpoint during the 2024 presidential election, with Trump blaming the Biden administration for grocery inflation. 

It’s been a minute, GoodSport, but we’re glad to hear that things are trending in a positive direction.

If you’re not familiar with GoodSport, it’s a unique kind of sports drink that’s made from 97 percent dairy products. 

When we last left Michelle McBride, a sports mom and the brand’s founder and CEO, the world was trying to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic and GoodSport was new to the market.

“I didn’t want my son drinking the artificial sports drinks that were offered to him at his games,” she told AGDAILY at the time. “I wanted a sports drink from a natural source that would provide truly effective hydration.”

The sports drink brand has been largely online and in retail stores in the Chicago area, but recently, Costco Wholesale has added it to shelves in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Kansas. This is being done for a limited time as a trial run.

“This regional expansion represents a major step forward for the brand as demand for clean, science-backed hydration continues to grow,” McBride said. She explained that GoodSport contains no artificial flavors, sweeteners, or dyes; delivers three times the electrolytes of the leading sports drink; contains no added sugar; and can hydrate better and longer than the competition in peer-reviewed research.

“This is a big moment — not just for our brand, but for anyone who’s been looking for better hydration without compromise,” she added.

The research McBride references is from the Hydration Lab at Arizona State University. There, in 2024, researchers learned that the specific type and levels of electrolytes in a sports drink directly affect how well it works. The researchers compared GoodSport to water, Gatorade, and BodyArmor and found that GoodSport was more effective for rehydration due to its combination of sodium and potassium — which GoodSport extracts from milk.

“There is a lot of science in formulating a sports drink properly and working with dairy ingredients,” McBride said.

Dairy Management Inc., the Center for Dairy Research, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the co-founder and former director of the Gatorade Sports Science Institute were instrumental in launching GoodSport and helped with the four-year long research and development program.

The brand recently launched its seventh flavor, Mango, and has begun partnering with a handful of NFL athletes to promote the products.

McBride said that she hopes the expanded access to GoodSport in Costco stores will make it easier than ever for athletes and active families to choose this dairy-backed hydration that’s built for summer.