Australian farm emissions and mapped where investment should flow
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On seeding day near Balranald in New South Wales, a yellow-marked trial plan sits taped to a plot seeder.
The site belongs to a five-year CSIRO project testing regenerative practices that aim to restore farming system health.
The CSIRO is building data systems to analyse emissions, input use and economic risk across its trials.[4]
Agricultural production generated 18.2% of Australia's greenhouse gas emissions in 2022-23.
That national figure excludes electricity, energy and fuel use on farms.
The share sets the scale of the task facing the technologies in the CSIRO's new national assessment.[2]
The CSIRO set out to identify where investment can turn promising emissions-reduction tools into practical change on Australian farms.
The Priorities for Low Emissions Agricultural Solutions Investment report examines current and emerging tools and what practical impact requires.
The CSIRO published the national assessment on 14 October 2026 to guide industry, government and research investment.[1]
The assessment evaluated more than 80 emissions-reduction technologies. Each targets on-farm greenhouse gas emissions, the gases that farming releases directly on the property. The CSIRO describes the work as a national assessment of current and emerging options.[1]
Six sectors fall within scope: red meat and sheep, dairy, cropping, horticulture, pigs and poultry. The list spans grazing animals, intensive animal industries and plant production. Dr Leith said the path forward differs from one sector to the next.[1]
The CSIRO funded and delivered the work with support from the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. More than 80 experts across the sector contributed through workshops, interviews and review. They came from research and development corporations, state and territory agencies, universities and industry.[1]
Biomass digesters illustrate the well-demonstrated end of the technology range that the CSIRO assessed for on-farm use. These enclosed systems let bacteria break down organic waste such as manure and capture the methane released. Capturing that gas keeps it out of the atmosphere.[1]
Anti-methanogenic livestock vaccines sit at the emerging end of the range. The term describes treatments that target the microbes producing methane during livestock digestion. That digestive process, called enteric fermentation, releases methane through belching.[1]
Feed supplements already face testing in real-world production environments. The Methane Emissions Reduction in Livestock program funded six projects worth $4 million to trial supplements such as seaweed. One project received $800,000 to trial the compound 3-nitrooxypropanol in northern beef cattle.[5]
The report spans targeted interventions such as feed supplements and broad enabling activities such as precision agriculture. Precision agriculture uses sensors, satellite data and machinery to apply inputs only where crops and animals need them. Dr Peat Leith said different industries and production systems need different combinations, or "stacks", of options.[1]
The report sorts investment priorities into three horizons to help funders target effort across different timeframes. They run from now to 2030, from 2030 to 2035, and beyond 2035. The staging separates immediate priorities from those that mature later.[1]
The report targets industry, government and research organisations. It aims to help them direct investment and effort where it can make the greatest difference. It complements existing work by research and development corporations, governments and industry bodies.[1]
Dr Leith described real opportunity for agriculture to work across industries and with the energy sector. Priorities differ from sector to sector, he said, yet common patterns emerge. Those patterns point to shared investment across industries and closer collaboration with energy providers.[1]
Dr Leith said the report outlines the opportunity to build measurement systems, incentives, capability and coordination. Those foundations turn potential into real-world impact, he said. Early investment targets that groundwork before adoption widens.[1]
Technical performance alone predicts farmer adoption poorly, the report found. Cost, return on investment, ease of use, delivery, trusted data and market value each shaped uptake significantly. The finding shifts attention from laboratory results to the economics of running a farm.[1]
Dr Michael Battaglia said emissions reduction and productive, profitable farming must advance together. The strongest pathways, he said, combine both objectives. Producers weigh every new tool against the demands of a working business.[1]
Research has produced a growing supply of potential solutions, Dr Battaglia said. The next challenge is to make solutions workable on farms, financially attractive and rewarded by their markets. Producers then gain a genuine commercial reason to adopt them.[1]
Dr Mark Farrell, who leads the CSIRO's regenerative agriculture trials, said local evidence matters. He said assuming practices from Europe's fertile, humid systems will work in Australian dryland farming is wrong. The trials draw almost $8 million from the Australian Government's Future Drought Fund.[4]
Monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) systems measure emissions, record the results and confirm them. Dr Battaglia said continued development of Australia's MRV systems will matter as demand for lower-emissions production grows. Reliable numbers support any emissions claim a producer makes.[1]
Building on work already underway can make it easier for farmers to demonstrate emissions outcomes. Better verification then opens access to markets that value lower-emissions production. Buyers need to trust the evidence before markets reward the result.[1]
The authors expect modest emissions reductions in the near term. Early work builds the confidence, capability and coordination that let technologies scale. More significant contributions follow in the medium term as technologies scale toward widespread adoption.[1]
The Zero Net Emissions Agriculture Cooperative Research Centre (ZNE-Ag CRC) works alongside the CSIRO on the same challenge. Its partners include 16 industry groups, every state government, the Northern Territory, 10 universities and three Indigenous organisations. Its research runs from 2024 to 2034 across four programs, including one on methane-free cattle and sheep.[6]
The CSIRO's assessment shows a growing range of tools for cutting farm emissions, from digesters to vaccines. Technology alone delivers little change without returns that make economic sense on the farm. Adoption turns on cost, return on investment and trusted data.
Responsibility now sits with governments, industry bodies and research organisations. They control the funding, measurement systems and delivery channels that decide whether priorities become working trials and verified results. Public reporting against each horizon would give farmers and buyers a basis for confidence.
Farming produced 18.2% of national emissions in 2022-23, and the authors expect modest early gains. Transparent measurement and coordinated investment will decide whether larger reductions follow. Accountability for that outcome rests with those who set the priorities.
1. CSIRO report identifies investment priorities for low-emissions agriculture. CSIRO's 14 October 2026 news release sets out the report's scope, technologies, horizons and author comments.
2. Reducing emissions (Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry). The department reports that agricultural production generated 18.2% of national emissions in 2022-23, excluding on-farm electricity and fuel.
3. Major new CRC to drive net zero emissions in Australian agriculture (Beef Central). Beef Central details the $300 million budget, $87 million Commonwealth contribution and 73-partner consortium behind the ZNE-Ag CRC.
4. Farmers put regenerative agriculture to the test. CSIRO's 13 October 2026 release describes the five-year STRAP trials, their funding and Dr Mark Farrell's comments.
5. Validating low emissions feed technologies in real-world production environments. The federal media release lists the six Methane Emissions Reduction in Livestock projects and their $4 million in grants.
6. Zero Net Emissions Agriculture Cooperative Research Centre (WA Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development). The department outlines the CRC's four programs, its 2024 to 2034 timeline and its partner mix.