Our third and final blog on insights from the Agriculture and Climate Change Conference 2024 takes a look at ‘where to from here?’. We take a look at developments in estimating on-farm emissions, what innovations are occurring in methane reduction, and some insights into a perspective that we could take forward with us into the future.
A step towards standardisation
One of the challenges the sector has faced when it comes to emissions has been the differing methods of estimating what a farms greenhouse gas emissions number is. With the increasing importance of emissions reporting and meeting market expectations, the inconsistency in estimations across different tools provides challenge and risk. Nick Donald, Lead for On-Farm Emissions Calculation at Ministry for Primary Industries, spoke to the conference about the work that they have been doing to create a method for estimating farm-level greenhouse gas emissions.
Why is standardisation important?
- Understanding
- Allowing farmers to understand their emissions is fundamental. Standardisation enables farmers to have confidence in the way that their emissions are estimated and reduce confusion between different tools.
- Accuracy and consistency
- This is important for many reasons such as farmer confidence in their GHG number, as well as the market having confidence that there is consistency in the foundations of New Zealand’s emissions reporting and sustainability claims.
- Farmer-focused
- Standardisation allows for focus on farmers and their businesses by reducing the burdens of having to navigate a variety of tools and methods of estimating their emissions, and of meeting expectations of those who want that data. It also ensures that when emissions pricing comes into effect that fairness, accuracy and transparency have been prioritised to enable a just approach to this piece of policy.
- Transparency and confidence
- This is really important to ensure that the method behind the way in which emissions estimations are undertaken is clear to all – farmers, processors, the market, and so on. Authenticity and credibility are central to a successful business and sector, and transparency seeks to strengthen our positioning,
The standardisation of the method to estimate on farm emissions provides great opportunity for our sector. It is the hope of MPI that the code for this method is adopted by others in the industry, allowing for application to existing tools that farmers use for estimating their emissions, and that it will also drive innovation for the future. The method developed:
- is reflective of New Zealand’s national emissions inventory model BUT has been modified to be focused on farm-level emissions.
- uses farm-level inputs to estimate monthly emissions for each stock class
- is limited to the scope of biogenic emissions and the application of synthetic fertilisers
For anyone interested in reading more about the New Zealand Farm Emissions Method that MPI has developed, you can find the report with in depth explanations via the link.
What's going on in methane research?
There was significant focus at the conference on what is going on in the world of innovation and research towards finding ways to reduce methane emissions. A wide range of work is being done in this space with just some of it summarised below.
Genetics and Breeding
Why are genetics an important pathway for looking to impact emissions reductions? In a recent webinar by the New Zealand Agricultural Research Centre and Teagasc, Donagh identified many reasons as to why breeding is a good solution. Genetics:
- have a close to complete adoption rate, as everyone needs mating
- are proven to deliver
- gains are built over time and can be permanent
- require no need to change farm management
- provide no direct additional costs to producers
- are sustainable
- provide the ability of breeding to improve many traits concurrently.
What’s being done in New Zealand? AgResearch is undertaking research into low-emitting sheep which has continued to build on findings of previous research projects that identified that some sheep naturally emit less methane per kg of food eaten. Research has found no evidence that the low-emitting line of genetics results in important production traits being compromised, and could in fact result in higher profits. Research continues, and has been instrumental in applying methods to other ruminants such as dairy cattle, with the Livestock Improvement Corporation Limited. (LIC) leading a similar project into breeding low-emitting dairy cattle.
This project has shown positive progress and has identified that there is an genetic variation in methane in dairy cattle, and that the young daughters of sires of high methane versus low methane do have differences in their methane output. Research continues into both of these programmes with the end goal of adoption of low-methane genetics in New Zealand’s flocks and herds.
Boluses and Vaccines
Reducing methane emissions via the use of a boluses or vaccines is a strong focus of research into reducing methane. We were given presentations by three companies who are making progress in this space:
Ruminant Bio Tech has been working on a sustained release methane inhibiting bolus, and are aiming to release in the Australian market in October 2025. While the bolus provides the delivery method, the solution itself is the use of a naturally occurring organic compound that has been found to be highly effective at reducing methane produced by ruminants.
A duration of efficacy study in 2024 found that:
- the leading commercial prototype had successful methane inhibition for 142 days,
- there was greater than 70% daily methane inhibition over 100 days,
- there were no treatment-related adverse effects, and
- high efficacy was achieved through to bolus degradation and clearance from the animal.
Arkea Bio presented on their work to produce a safe vaccine that targets methane producing microbes in the rumen. They have a strong focus on ensuring that their vaccine is not only safe, but user-friendly and cost-conscious. They have shown that vaccines are able to modulate the methanogen microbiome in ruminants. A core component of their approach is to research into the naturally-existing antigens in the rumen for testing their formulations. Arkea Bio are moving with pace with ongoing and upcoming trials further exploring this potential method of reducing methane emissions.
Lucidome Bio also presented on their work on developing a safe, effective and affordable vaccine to reduce ruminant methane emissions. Their work is currently on validating key vaccine components, in order to formulate a prototype vaccine. While Lucidome Bio was only launched in 2024, it builds off established research that has already been done in the sector. They hope to demonstrate key elements for a commercial vaccine in the next two years, with hopes to receive regulatory approval for farmer vaccine adoption within five years.
Pasture and Seed
Dr Linda Johnson, Ag Research, spoke to their focus on High Metabolisable Energy (HME) Ryegrass. Linda emphasised that New Zealand’s livestock grazing system is built on ryegrass, endophytes and clover. Looking to focus on HME ryegrass provides the opportunity to boost animal productivity, while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This research is focused on the use of genetic technologies to elevate the lipid content in ryegrass. The focus on ryegrass provides a solution that is pasture-based and scalable. The potential sector benefits of HME reygrass that AgResearch have identified are:
- reduction in methane emissions by approximately 8-10%,
- increased metabolisable energy (+1 Mj/kg DM),
- increased animal productivity of approx. 10%,
- reduced N20 emissions by approx. 10%+,
- stackable technology, and
- changing regulatory landscape for genetic technologies in New Zealand.
BioLumic also presented their focus on light treatments for low emissions pasture seed. They have started a new programme to research seed treatments for increasing lipid content, with their first focus on ryegrass. Like that of AgResearchs research mentioned above, it is clear that there is premise through the science to focus on targeting increasing lipid content in ryegrass as a way to reduce methane emissions. While the methods and techniques are different, they are both looking to target lipids in ryegrass. Initial results for BioLumic so far have shown a 17% increase in grass fat concentration in the light-treated seed compared to the control, and 36% increase in the dry matter of grass compared to the control.
Where to from here?
Across these three blogs I’ve highlighted things from adoption, to innovation, to markets, and I don’t need to tell you how much is going on in this space. It can all feel a bit overwhelming though, right? Climate change is an issue for all of us, right now, and into the future. One thing that really stuck out for me as I’ve spent time over the last month thinking about agriculture and climate change has been the need to be intentional in how we frame our perspective. We can sit and wait, and hope that the right tools will come in the future to help us reduce our emissions, however does that set us up for resilience in the meantime? And if not, how can we frame things for where we go from here?
Where I see a need to focus our perspective is best summarised by my thoughts below:
A resilient future requires us to be intentional. It requires us to ensure we don’t put all of our eggs in one basket. Diversity is the key to a thriving farming business, and diversity of approach to reducing emissions on-farm is likely also something that is needed to ensure resilience. Technology will have its role when it comes available, but how do we want to spend our time until then? Do we want to wait, or do we want to proudly say that we are influencing the things within our control and look forward to how we can include technological options when they are available down the line?
So what can I do now?
If I could recommend just one thing that you could do after reading this series, it would be to listen and learn from other farmers. Ag Matters have produced series of case studies that take a step inside the real life farming business of New Zealand farmers who are working towards their goals around emissions reductions on farm. With videos of the farmers speaking to their operations, goals and achievements, as well as plenty of information about their farm systems, future focus, and advice for other farmers, there is a wealth of knowledge and information to learn and gain ideas from those who are out there doing it – other farmers.
You can find these case studies via the link.
Focusing on what we can do and control, rather than what we can’t, is the key to ensuring that we are able to continue to move forward in a way that ensures resilience and sustainability. Hope over hysteria, and keeping an international perspective, will also keep us on track to ensure we move in the right direction.
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