- Introduction
- A Strategic Framework
- A Definition of Greenhouse Gas Abatement Research
- Desired Outcomes and Strategic Objectives
Part One- A Strategy and Priorities for Future Research on the Abatement of Agricultural Methane and Nitrous Oxide Emissions: Conclusions and Recommendations
Introduction
This report presents the conclusions and recommendations of the authors on a strategy and priorities for future research on the abatement of methane and nitrous oxide emissions from New Zealand farms. It is based on a critical review of published and current research findings, and on the conclusions reached in a Workshop attended by New Zealand, Australian and international scientists, farmers, policy advisers and agricultural industry representatives.
For the purposes of this report the terms `abatement' and `mitigation' are treated as being synonymous. The words `abate' and `mitigate are defined in the New Zealand Oxford Dictionary (1998) as "to make or become less strong or intense". For the purpose of meeting Kyoto Protocol commitments, this will involve a human intervention that reduces emissions or creates sinks that lock up the greenhouse gases.
Throughout this report, references to our report An Assessment of the Needs for Research on the Abatement of Non-Carbon Dioxide Greenhouse Gases from Agriculture: A Review of Current and Published Research are provided in parentheses.
A Strategic Framework
In Chapter 9 of the above-mentioned report, the outline of a framework on which a research strategy might be based is provided. It is suggested that all future research on agricultural production that involves the performance of grazing ruminants, the improvement of forage systems, the management of animal wastes, or the management of carbon and nitrogen cycles in pastoral or cropping systems should have regard inter alia to greenhouse gas emissions. However, not all such research would be classified as research on greenhouse gas emission abatement for the purposes of funding.
A Definition of Greenhouse Gas Abatement Research
| We recommend that research proposals be defined as research on the abatement of greenhouse gas emissions for the purposes of funding if the objectives relate specifically to abatement of emissions or the measurement of the impact of the adoption of abatement strategies. |
This could include research on:
- Fundamental studies to provide an understanding of the processes by which methane and nitrous oxide are formed and emitted or processes or technologies that modify the production or emission of the gases.
- The abatement of methane or nitrous oxide emissions through new technologies or products.
- The abatement of methane or nitrous oxide emissions through farm management practices.
- Management at a farm-scale of soil carbon and nitrogen cycles that result in reduced GHG emissions.
- Whole farm management systems that incorporate abatement strategies in a manner that encourages uptake and adoption by farmers. This could include decision-support modeling and research into farmer attitudes to the management of greenhouse gas emissions and to the acceptability/adoptability of abatement strategies.
- Improvement of the National Inventory through the development of measurement techniques that can operate at national, regional, farm-scale or animal/paddock levels, emission estimation models and emission factors that reflect as closely as possible New Zealand agricultural practices and systems. An important feature of the future inventory will be the capacity to demonstrate, using the appropriate techniques, that any abatement strategies that are adopted are delivering the expected reduction in emissions.
Desired Outcomes and Strategic Objectives
At the present time, there is an inherent conflict within the government's objective of reducing total agricultural methane and nitrous oxide emissions permanently, while maintaining an internationally competitive agricultural sector. Some of the technologies and management practices that could be introduced in the medium-term (up to and including the first commitment period) could reduce the rate of emissions per kilogram of digestible dry matter intake and per kilogram of product (meat, milk, fibre). However, they would not result in reduced total emissions unless animal numbers and/or production were limited. Nonetheless, improved productive efficiency as measured by reduced emissions per unit of production seems to be a worthwhile objective.
Technologies and systems that will achieve both productive efficiency and reduced total emissions require fundamental changes in biological processes or farming systems. Examples of such changed processes are:
- Reducing hydrogen produced in the rumen or diverting it from the methanogenic pathway to an alternative pathway that yields products useful to the animal.
- The development of diets for grazing animals that more closely matches the intake of energy and protein to the animal's needs.
- Inhibitors of nitrous oxide synthetic pathways.
- Soil and water management practices that favour the conversion of soil nitrogenous compounds to nitrogen gas rather than nitrous oxide.
The fundamental studies that might yield these technologies will involve long-term discovery research or medium-term proof of concept research. Research findings are not likely to be adopted widely as practical systems in the period up to 2012.
In the interests of providing a sound basis for a research strategy, it is important that practical goals for the agricultural sector be developed. Until such time that the sort of technologies discussed above become available, we consider that technologies and farming systems that may yield greater efficiency of production should be pursued, even though total emissions may increase in the absence of limitations on animal numbers or their production.
| We recommend that strategic goals on greenhouse gas emission management be developed for all sectors of agriculture. Such goals should recognise any conflicts between the national objective of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture and farm enterprise objectives that are dictated by market forces. |
We consider that there are significant positive gains in farmer acceptance, understanding and willingness to adopt abatement measures to be obtained from establishing strategic objectives for each sector. The objectives should focus on areas where the greatest gains can be made, and should include a temporal component that takes account of the potential impact of future developments. Thus pig and poultry farmers may be concerned only with objectives related to manure management. Sheep and beef cattle farmers may focus on improving the efficiency of their farms through diet management pending the development of technologies that modify methane emissions. Cropping farmers could focus on the efficient use of nitrogen. In the short to medium-term, dairy farmers have the opportunity to enhance efficiency through diet manipulation, manure management and the efficient use of nitrogen fertiliser. In all cases, there is a potential `win/win' for farmers and the nation. Just as importantly, a culture of concern for emissions reductions can be fostered.
We recognise that the development of strategic objectives will be hampered initially by a lack of data on abatement potential, costs, practicability etc, but we see value in learning and sharing processes that will be involved.
Farmers are aware of their potential to create sinks such as forest blocks and biomass crops, as well as emissions, but there is scant data on the benefits and risks of doing these things, how they might be accounted for, or what incentives would lead farmers to adopt them. While it is recognised that there are significant impediments to creating a market approach to the management of greenhouse sources and sinks, a willingness to include them in discussion of objectives is likely to engender a more positive response from the industry than a focus only on sources of emissions that appears to emphasise the `bad' things they are doing.
One important conclusion of the Workshop was the desirability of integrating the objectives of greenhouse gas emission abatement with other environmental management objectives. This is particularly relevant to the management of the nitrogen cycle in agriculture. For example, the use of properly managed drainage ditches and riparian strips may not only prevent nitrates reaching waterways, but also favour the conversion of nitrates to nitrogen gas rather than nitrous oxide.
| We recommend that strategic objectives for the management of greenhouse gas emissions be developed for each sector of agriculture. In doing so, we recommend that consideration of both sources and sinks of all greenhouse gases be included and that, where appropriate, the objectives be integrated with objectives for environmental management. |
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