Using government and industry approved models, Nutrien Ag Solutions’ Farm Emissions Profile helps farmers understand the source of their emissions
When sugarcane farmer Christian Lago wanted to measure his on-farm greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, he turned to his Nutrien advisers.
With increasing pressures to reduce these on-farm emissions in response to the COP21 Paris Agreement and Australia’s national target of net zero by 2050, farming businesses like Lago’s may need to understand their own GHG footprint sooner rather than later.
According to Nutrien Ag Solutions, Australia’s agricultural industry accounts for approximately 14 per cent of the nation’s total GHG emissions.
While online calculators offer insights into this information, Nutrien Ag Solutions sustainability field manager for Queensland and New South Wales, Charles Starkings, says accuracy and consistency are important.
“The quality of the output of digital tools is dependent on the data input, every farm is unique and many tools don’t offer the flexibility that is required to perform these complex calculations – this can lead to a misleading output,” Starkings says.
Instead of farmers doing complicated calculations on their own, Nutrien Ag Solutions offers a solution, combining the knowledge of Nutrien’s local farm advisors and its team of sustainable farming specialists, with its Farm Emissions Profile.
It uses government and industry approved models to help farmers understand the source of their emissions and put that data into a context that is more understandable.
On-farm benefits
Lago worked with Starkings to develop a Farm Emissions Profile for his sugarcane operation, based in far North Queensland.
The third-generation farmer says the insights have helped inform his priorities for future emissions reduction activities.
The report showed that most of his emissions were due to the application of nitrogen fertilisers, then highlighted techniques for reducing these nitrogen losses.
“We wanted to get an understanding of how our farming carbon footprint is calculated, and what the major contributors are in our system,” Lago says.
“It was a very informative process and demonstrated that while we’re on the right track, there are some areas where we can concentrate our efforts to achieve better environmental outcomes.”
Quite often it can be difficult to paint the full picture of a farm business through data alone, which is why Starkings says Nutrien Ag Solutions will often follow up with additional conversations to make sure the information is an accurate representation of the business.
“Pressures to reduce overall net farm emissions may increase in the future,” Starkings says.
“The key for us for now, is to help farmers create strategies to reduce emissions, while improving their productivity and input use efficiency.”
Emissions profile
By speaking to Nutrien Ag Solutions’ sustainable farming specialists, farming businesses can use the Farms Emissions Profile to receive a breakdown of their GHG footprint and look at ways of reducing on-farm emissions.
“We look at the things farming businesses can do now, but also what they need to watch out for,” Starkings says.
“It is increasingly common for farmers to be asked about their emission profiles, particularly from finance providers, grain accumulators and retailers in the red meat and horticultural industries.
“This will only increase as the pressures to quantify and reduce on-farm emission gain more traction.
“The Farms Emissions Profile enables farming business to be ready and equipped with information, when they’re asked about their GHG footprint.”
For farmers seeking more knowledge about their footprint and what it means for their business, this report can help them understand where their business stands and what can be done to reduce emissions.
Using data capture forms that ask questions in an intuitive way, Starkings says confidentiality is provided given the sensitive nature of this information.
By providing confidentiality, Nutrien Ag Solutions can have conversations with farm businesses, discussing the data in a comfortable environment.
“Once we tell businesses what the key drivers of emissions are and how they can improve their footprint, they can use this information to inform the farm strategy,” Starkings says.
“There’s going to be more data sharing with the supply chains, but the overarching message we want to send is that improving productivity and efficiency of the inputs farmers use will benefit an emissions account.”
As mentioned, the agricultural industry accounts for 14 per cent of Australia’s total GHG emissions.
According to Nutrien Ag Solutions, 77 per cent of that total is due to the emission of methane, 19 per cent to the emission of nitrous oxide, and the remaining 4 per cent to the emission of carbon dioxide.
Starkings says the main source of the methane emissions is enteric methane, a by-product of the natural digestive process of livestock such as cattle and sheep.
Nitrous oxide emissions are a result of losses of nitrogen from the soil, through denitrification, while carbon dioxide emissions can come from lime and urea use.
For more information on Nutrien Ag Solutions’ Farm Emissions Profile, visit www.nutrienagsolutions.com.au or contact the regional sustainability field managers.
North East sustainability field manager
Charles Starkings – 0438 400 988
South East sustainability field manager
Todd Price – 0418 508 755
West sustainability field manager
Kirsty Smith – 0428 637 242