Situation and Outlook for New Zealand Agriculture and Forestry (August 2008)
6 Science and the greenhouse dilemma
New Zealand is leading the world in research to find ways to reduce the amount of methane produced by grazing farm animals, which in this country accounts for 32 percent of our greenhouse gas emissions.
Pastoral greenhouse gas research consortium
The Pastoral Greenhouse Gas Research Consortium (PGGRC) is an investment vehicle (funded by industry and government) that aims to provide livestock farmers with the knowledge and tools to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.
Over the past six years, the PGGRC has invested more than $19 million in scientific research on the production of methane and nitrous oxide from grazing livestock. New Zealand scientists working on this programme were the first to successfully map the genetic sequence of the microbe that produces methane from the rumen of cattle and sheep.
The PGGRC aims to develop solutions that will ensure a sustainable future both nationally and internationally. The programme’s scope is broad, to span the variety of production systems in the livestock sector. It focuses on six themes:
- rumen microbial ecology;
- methanogen genomics;
- methanogen vaccine;
- livestock selection;
- farm systems and forage selection;
- nitrification inhibitors.
Other significant investments
In 2007, the Government established an international research network called the Livestock Emissions and Abatement Research Network (LEARN), which is run by MAF in conjunction with the PGGRC. LEARN’s aim is to help bring together research, policy and industry people from around the world who are working on the challenge of mitigating methane and nitrous oxide, and developing cost-effective and practical solutions for agriculture.
The Government has made other significant investments in partnership with the land-based sectors, Māori and local government to turbocharge research across a range of climate change issues. The Sustainable Land Management and Climate Change Plan of Action has had an investment of $45 million over five years to fund “public good” research on greenhouse gas emissions, their mitigation and adaptation to climate change. The Government will also inject a capital investment of $700 million in Fast Forward (see Chapter 4).
The combination of these initiatives and the PGGRC means that New Zealand is being strategically positioned to deal with climate change in the agricultural sector.
- The PGGRC website is http://www.pggrc.co.nz
- The LEARN website is http://www.livestockemissions.net
Contact for Enquiries
Monitoring and Evaluation
PO Box 2526
Wellington
New Zealand
