Beef+Lamb NZ: Agriculture cutting emissions without pricing

The inventory shows there have been significant reductions by the agriculture sector in the last two years, with methane emissions from agriculture 3.7% below 2017 levels, while methane emissions overall (including from waste) are 4.1% below 2017 levels.

Overall, agricultural emissions were at their lowest point since 2000, though still 10% higher than in 1990.

B+LNZ chair Kate Acland says with further reductions forecast in the next couple of years due to land-use change, farmers are well on the way to meeting the current 2030 emissions reduction targets and there is no need for a price on agricultural emissions.

"We've been saying for some time that our sector is already pulling its weight. However, we're still grappling with regulations that are sucking the confidence our of rural New Zealand, and we need immediate changes.

"The latest inventory should be a good news story, but a primary driver behind these emissions reductions has been the conversion of producitve sheep and beef farms into forestry for carbon offsetting.

"We may be heading towards the current 2030 target, but it's for the wrong reasons. Reductions are being achieved by a reduction in stock numbers, driven by offsetting - a mechanism that is intended to reduce carbon emissions, but simply allows fossil fuel emitters to continue emitting."

B+LNZ-commissioned independent research has shown that between 2017 and 2024 more than 260,000 hectares of whole sheep and beef farms were sold for conversion into forestry, primarily for carbon farming.

Acland said that for every 100,000 hectares planted close to one million stock units are lost, with over 2.5 million stock units so far taken out of the sector due to afforestation.

She said this trend was unsustainable for the sector and for the wider economy, risking losing New Zealand's iconic farming landscapes and livelihoods.

"We're seeking clear action from the Government so our farmers can have confidence in New Zealand's approach and confidence in the future of our sector.

"The current 2050 methane target needs to be revised on the basis of no additional warming and the threat of emissions pricing must be taken off the table.

"Any further reductions in on-farm emissions should come from the use of technologies, further genetic gains and farm systems optimisation - driven by customer demands and not Government regulation."

Afforestation to Ease?

While B+LNZ welcomed the Government's announcement late last year of restrictions on forestry offsets, it still believes this will see afforestation happen, just at a slower pace.

Waitaki MP and former sheep farmer Miles Anderson echoed those statements, pointing out that while primary producers are currently exempted from emissions pricing until at least 2030 they still pay carbon taxes on fuel, fertiliser and electricity.

"Farms still contribute to the Emissions Trading Scheme with those things. We as a government are introducing a new Resource Management Act through the parliamentary process at the end of the year.

"The aim to have this in place by mid-2026, reducing compliance costs and complexity."

One significant though often overlooked aspect of emissions management is nitrous oxide (N₂O), which accounted for 9% of total emissions.

Primarily generated through application of nitrogen fertilisers and breakdown of organic matter (i.e. urine/dung, soil and crop residues), N₂O's atmospheric duration of 100-120 years is significantly shorter than carbon dioxide (300-1,000 years) but much longer than methane (7-12 years).

Nitrous Oxide Use

Foundation for Arable Research senior researcher Dirk Wallace said that while nothing was currently being promoted by government to specifically target N₂O emissions, farm planning to get fertiliser rates right for crops would be an excellent start.

"There is also work being pushed by the New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre on nitrification inhibitors you could apply to fertiliser to modify the way it transforms from one source of nitrogen to another.

"This would reduce the amount of nitrous oxide released from the fertiliser and could be a mitigation practice on the horizon in the future.

"In terms of other losses urine and dung from animals are a massive source in the pastoral sense, but the methane emission from livestock outweighs the nitrous oxide emission so that's where the majority of the attention tends to go."

Wallace said a positive side effect of better freshwater quality outcomes would also be in helping to reduce fertiliser emissions if fertiliser rates were excessive to begin with.