Having established what a farms greenhouse gas emissions are, many users then wish to make the next step, and consider how they may reduce them.
As with the use of mitigations for reducing N or P loss from the farm system, it is often sensible for farmers to engage with experienced rural professionals to help to best understand what mitigations or farm system changes may be most appropriate / effective.
However, some farmers may wish to explore options themselves, particularly as emissions, just like nutrient losses via leaching and runoff, represent economic losses to the farm system.
In 2018 the Biological Emissions Reference Group (BERG) published their report which considered:
- Opportunities to reduce biological greenhouse gas emissions from New Zealand agriculture
(methane and nitrous oxide), both today and in the future; and - The costs and benefits of these mitigation opportunities, and any barriers to their use.
This report identified the following mitigations which can already be implemented on New Zealand farms, and which can be modelled within OverseerFM:
- N fertiliser with urease inhibitor (e.g. NBPT / Agrotain)
- Reduce N fertiliser applied to soils
- Replace some pasture with lower N feed
- Reduce animal stocking or shift sheep/cattle ratio
- Use stand-off pad when N losses are highest
- Apply N fertiliser when N losses may be lowest
- Reduce/improve dairy cow replacement rate
- Apply nitrification inhibitor (e.g. DCD, DMPP) (currently disabled since the withdrawal of EcoN