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| Livestock are responsible for 70 per cent of greenhouse emissions from agriculture but changes to feed, management and genetics is helping to reduce the impact. (Supplied: Jon Wright, Blue-E) |
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Key Points
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Corporate agriculture is acting with greater urgency, while the red meat industry has adopted a much more ambitious deadline of 2030.
There have been a series of big announcements on emissions from large agricultural corporations in recent weeks, driven by changing consumer demand around the world.
US retailers are reporting a doubling in demand for plant-based food during the pandemic and that trend is being replicated in Australia.
Brazilian giant JBS has established a plant-based range of food products to go alongside its massive abattoir business to improve its credentials and respond to growing demand for alternatives.
Woolworths, along with billionaire pastoralist Andrew Forrest, is backing a $15-million CSIRO project to put seaweed into cattle feed which can reportedly reduce emissions by more than 80 per cent.
Despite that, farm lobby groups like the New South Wales Farmers Association have announced only conditional support for the NFF target of net zero emissions by 2050.
They want clarity on how farmers will be expected to do it, and a guarantee it will not cost them more to comply.
Queensland lobby group Agforce abstained over its concerns about the lack of work underpinning the NFF target.
Meat industry facing the biggest challenge
Agriculture is responsible for 14 per cent of Australia's emissions and cattle make up the 70 per cent of those.
When cows burp and fart, they convert grass into methane which is a potent greenhouse gas.
The most effective way to bring those emissions down is to change what the animal eats and to improve the animal's ability to convert feed to protein through breeding and genetics.
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| Cattle breeder Jon Wright has cut methane emissions from his cattle by 30 per cent through genetics and management systems. (ABC News: Tim Fookes) |
"To actually set some goals is a huge, huge challenge and if you want me to put money on when will we get there, I'm probably not going to," he said.Mr Wright said the problem for the industry is that most of Australia's meat supply comes out of rangelands in Queensland and the Northern Territory and he does not think it will be easy for those graziers to change their practices or access low emissions food and genetics.
He said retailers may need to reconsider sourcing beef from those areas.
"Now that's pretty horrible to say and pretty hard to think about, but people up in those areas have to prove how they can produce a lower emissions product if they're going to stay in business," Mr Wright said.
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| Changes to nutrition could help significantly reduce emissions from cattle in feedlots but it may be much harder on the rangelands of inland Australia. (ABC Rural: Matt Brann) |
She believed they were actually much better placed to reduce emissions and care for the planet generally than livestock in feedlots or other production systems.
"We're still in the process of doing a carbon footprint for the station and I think there needs to be some research into the carbon footprint of extensive grass fed systems, but the emissions from these cattle are so much lower and we're not using grain that could be used for something else," she said.
Changing cattle feed a big part of the solution
Global animal nutrition company Alltech signed up to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and started its own initiative to reduce emissions, called the Planet of Plenty.
It set benchmarks to monitor its progress on lowering greenhouse gas emissions and reducing energy and water consumption.
Alltech produce and distribute animal feed to 120 countries, including Australia, so they are in a position to make a difference with low emissions feed.
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| Global animal feed company Alltech have conducted more than 9,000 farm assessments and found that environmentally efficient farms are often the most profitable as well. (Supplied: Alltech) |
Vice president Matthew Smith said livestock emissions are going down globally, even though beef and dairy production is going up and that is because animal production is becoming more efficient.
"If a cow produces more milk or if a beef animal is heavier, has higher daily live weight gain, there are more kilos to divide that methane across," he said.
Genetics could drive emissions in cattle down
Jon Wright thinks it is possible to reduce emission by about 30 per cent, using genetics and cattle management systems.
He has been breeding cattle that need less feed to gain weight and his focus is on early weaning his calves.
That gives his cows time to put on weight before they get pregnant again and then his focus is on halving their usual rations in order to halve their emissions.
"They will eat 15kg day if you let them, [but] they will maintain weight and maintain their condition in pregnancy on half that."Are Australian targets ambitious enough?
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| Alltech vice president Matthew Smith says Australia is on track to meet the Paris Accord target for agriculture, other countries have more ambitious targets. (Supplied: Alltech) |
"In 2020 Australia is on track to do that, levels have dropped 5-6 per cent," he said.
While some countries were not so successful, Mr Smith still believed a much more ambitious goal was achievable for Australia.
"New Zealand isn't far away from you, they have a bold target, and there are many countries in Europe looking at 40 and 50 per cent reductions," he said.But Mr Smith said measurement systems still varied and that was a problem.
"Unless there is one clear system in place to do that measurement it becomes really difficult to say 'what system do I use?'" he said.
Links
- Farmers call for tougher climate policy and back net zero emissions by 2050
- Size doesn't matter as small outback graziers come together to trade carbon credits
- Methane emissions have gone up everywhere except Europe
- National Farmers Federation calls for Australia to reduce net emissions to zero by 2050
- Seaweed-fed cows could solve livestock industry's methane problems
- Australian red meat sector sets 2030 carbon neutral target at Alice Springs producer forum
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