Agriculture Canada is encouraging farmers to take a look at ways of reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, including the methane from cattle — but the gas, a spokesman said, is not released from the animals in the form of flatulence, contrary to what many people think.

"Actually, mostly the methane produced by livestock, mostly ruminants, so we're talking about beef and dairy cattle, is mostly through the mouth," said Phillipe Rochette.

He said that certain "bugs" in the stomach of livestock take the feed that the animals eat and cause it to decompose, resulting in production of methane, Mr. Rochette said.

Research has made strides in recent years to reduce the emissions, Mr. Rochette told CBC Newsworld on Tuesday, including looking at alternative types of food in pasture mixtures, and the use of a variety of feed ingredients to curb methane production during digestion.

The Agriculture Department held a news conference on Tuesday to help cattle producers learn how to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions now that Canada has officially ratified the protocol. Agriculture produces a total of 10 per cent of Canada's greenhouse gas emissions.

About one-third of those are in the form of methane and the other two-thirds are due to nitrous oxide, which comes mostly from farm soils, especially those that have been treated with fertilizers and manures.

One way to help restore the balance is to retain more carbon in the soils, said Dr. Henry Janzen, and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada soil biochemist.

"Farmers are in the business of managing carbon, even from other industries," he said. "If we can help them to effectively store it longer in their fields, that means less greenhouse gas in the air we all breathe," he said.

To that effect, the federal agriculture department has set up a computerized virtual-farm program that helps farmers examine different fertilizer types and application techniques.

"We have to educate farmers," Mr. Rochette said. "We are talking about effects in the future and effect of climate change."