Reducing farm emissions

There are many ways that greenhouse gas emissions from dairy farms can be reduced, ie via management changes to the herd, the feedbase and the soil. The most viable will depend on what sort of emissions reduction scheme the Australian Government decides to implement.

This section explores dairy farm greenhouse gas emissions and the possible mitigation strategies.

Key points:

- Agriculture faces the dual challenge of increasing food production while reducing emissions

- Methane and Nitrous oxide are the major on-farm emissions

- Herd, feed and soil based strategies can reduce emissions on some dairy farms

- Following current best practice minimises emissions per litre of milk

- Well managed farms have few options to reduce emissions without significant changes to their farming or feeding system

- Until the government legislates a carbon reduction policy, it is not possible to recommend abatement strategies