A new study published in the journal Global Change Biology states growing crops and raising livestock produces more carbon emissions that contribute to climate change than land use and deforestation. The reason for this, Carbonbrief reports, is that deforestation and land use has dropped while agriculture activities involving farming and livestock are on the rise.

On average, cutting down trees and clearing land contributed the equivalent of 6.4 gigatonnes (Gt) of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere each year of the 1990s. This fell to 5.4 Gt in the 2000s and to 4.9 Gt in 2010, the study finds.

In comparison, global emissions from crop and livestock production rose from 4.8 Gt in the 1990s, to 5.2 Gt in the 2000s and to 5.4 Gt in 2010. Emissions from agriculture are growing at around one per cent per year, the study estimates.

This comes in the heels of a study published December of last year that determined that carbon emissions from meat and dairy production produce more carbon dioxide than automobiles, planes, trucks, ships and trains.

In some ways this makes sense since when land use and deforestation drops off, carbon emissions from farming and livestock production will be measured as higher if only compared to the former categories. However, this new study will probably be used in conjunction with the dairy and meat study at some point if environmentalists decide to try to push for carbon controls of food production. The purpose of this kind of study is one more arrow in their quiver if they want an excuse to push more of their policies into our lives.