carbon neutral agriculture drivers, options and tools

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Primary Industries Climate Challenges Centre

Carbon Neutral AgricultureDrivers, Options and Tools

Richard Eckard

• Methane (10%)

– Ruminants, waste management

• Nitrous Oxide (3%)

– Fertilizer, excreta, waste, legumes etc

• Carbon Dioxide

– Energy, lime, urea application and fertilizer production

• Sequestration

– Soil and trees

Why Carbon Neutral?Agricultural emissions

Sheep Beef

Enteric Methane

77%

Enteric Methane

82%

Dung & Urine9%

Energy4%

Indirect5%

Dung & Urine9% Urea

1%

7-9 kg CO2e/kg CFW+LWT 28-32 kg CO2e/kg CFW

9 - 15 kg CO2e/kg LWT

Energy3%

Why Carbon Neutral?Typical Farm GHG profiles

Christie et al. 2016

Dairy8 – 21 t CO 2 e/t MS

Grains / pulses0.04 t/CO2e/t grain

Rangeland Beef14 t CO2e/t LWT

Enteric CH4 57%

Waste CH4 10%

N2O animal waste

6%

Indirect N2O animal waste

4%

Direct N2O N fertilisers

2%

Indirect N2O N fertilisers

1%

Fuel and electricity

9%

CO2 grains/conce

ntrates 6%

CO2 purchased

forages 2%

CO2 purchased fertilisers

3%

CH4 -Enteric

92%

N2O - Urine & Dung

5%

N2O -Deposition

1%N2O - Leaching

0%

CO2 -Energy1%

CO2 -Lime0%

CO2 - Urea Application

0%

CH4 - Field Burning

10%CH4 - Energy

0%

N2O -Fertiliser

32%N2O - Crop

residues43%

N2O -Atmospheric deposition

3%

N2O -Leaching and

Runoff7%

N2O - Field Burning

4%

N2O -Energy

0%

International Policy DriversCOP21 Paris Agreement

• Reach global peaking GHG emissions as soon as possible

– Achieve a climate neutral world by 2050

• Assumed as net zero GHG, but not required

• Methane may not need to be zero?

– COP26

• Increased 2030 ambition

• Proposed 30% reduction in methane

Carbon Neutral Agriculture Supply chain responses to Paris Agreement

• Fonterra– Climate-neutral growth to 2030 for pre-farmgate

emissions from a 2015 base year

• Unilever– Reducing the GHG impact of their products by

50% by 2030, compared to baseline of 2010

• Mondelez – Reduce absolute GHG from manufacturing 15%– 100% renewable energy

• Nestle– Zero environmental impact in our operations

• JBS– Net-zero GHG by 2040 and zero deforestation

across its global supply chain by 2035

• Heineken– Carbon neutral barley-malt supply chain

• Rabobank– Carbon neutral supply chains

• Mars– Reduce GHG across our value chain 27% by 2025

and 67% by 2050 (from 2015 levels)

• Kellogg Company– 65% reduction by 2050– 100% renewable energy

• Pfizer– 60 to 80% by 2050

• Wilmar international– 89.72% less GHG from 2013 to 2020 – 100% renewable energy

• Olam– Reduce GHGs by 50% by 2030 both in our own

operations and in our supply chain– By 2050, we aspire to be carbon positive in

operations, requiring a 5% emissions reduction per year from 2031 – 2050

• Of the 100 largest economies 69 are companies and 31 are countries

• Government policy may now be less influential than market forces

COP21 - Paris Agreement Investors responses

FAIRR - an index to analyse livestock production

against the Sustainable Development Goals

(SDGs).

A resource for institutional investors on risk of

investment in livestock.

Good Poor

• Danone purchased SILK/Whitewave (2017)

– $12.5B Silk brands

• Fastest growing US food and beverage company

• Plant based milks growing at 11%

– Danone media quotes:

• “Accelerate our towards sustainable and profitable growth”

• “Healthier and more sustainable eating”

• Norco Co-Op & CSIRO

– Milk from yeast

– “Eden Brew was created to help build a sustainable food future by creating a dairy solution that is environmentally sustainable and less resource-intensive” - Eden Milk CEO Jim Fader

COP21 - Paris Agreement Potential impact on dairy

Industry and market driversLivestock Industry Responses

• Australian Red Meat Industry (RMAC 2030 strategy)

– Australian red-meat can be carbon neutral by 2030 (CN30)

• Mato Grosso do Sul (MS), Brazil

– “MS carbon neutral” initiative

– Carbon neutral Brazilian Beef

• New Zealand

– Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Act 2019

• Net zero by 2050

• California SB 32• 40 % less methane by 2030 over 1990

• Global Methane Pledge at COP26 • 30% less methane by 2030 by 105 countries

• Livestock

– Arcadian Organic & Natural’s Meat Co’s

– Flinders + Co Meats

– NAPCO

• Wine

– Ross Hill

– Tulloch

– Cullen

Industry and market driversCarbon Neutral Agriculture

• USA: President Joe Biden

– “Failing to curb emissions means America will tax your exports”

– “to ensure his climate policies do not place US workers and companies at an unfair disadvantage” – Financial Times 26 April 2021

• The EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM)

– “The European Parliament… approval to… start taxing imports from countries without a carbon price… by 2023” – Financial Times 11 March 2020

• Around 70% of Australian Agricultural product is exported

– Australian ranked last on the Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI)

• Our only choice is:

– Does the carbon tax get paid outside Australia, or can we keep the revenue within our agricultural sector?

International Policy DriversBorder Adjustment Tariffs

• Carbon Farming

– Management principles that minimise GHGe, maximise carbon sequestration in the landscape, while improving the productivity and resilience of agricultural systems

• (Aus definition)

• Carbon Neutral (net zero)

– Management that minimises GHGe, and offsets the balance of emissions through sequestration of an equivalent amount of carbon dioxide in soils or vegetation

• On an year-by-year basis

• Climate Neutral

– Too vague for IPCC glossary

– No net change in global warming

Carbon Farming, Carbon Neutral

• Carbon account/audit (CA) • Net Emissions (NE = t CO2e/ business unit)

– All GHG from boundary of the farm enterprise

– All GHG upstream

– All Soil and tree sinks

• Carbon footprint (CF) • Emissions intensity (EI = t CO2e/t product)

– Same method as CA

Carbon Neutral vs Carbon Account

CH4

The Carbon Cycle in Agriculture

Litter-C

Microbial Decomposition

SO-C

Leaching-C

CO2

CHO

After Eckard (2009)~Half of all products/compounds in farming is carbon

Humus-C

PO-C

Sequestration

meat, wool, milk – Cgrain, crops


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What can be done on farm now?Methane and Nitrous Oxide

Do Now

• Management (10%)

– Efficiency, health, fertility

• Legumes (10-15%)

– Leucaena, Lucerne, Vetch, Lotus

• Supplements (10-20%)

– Oils, tannins e.g. grape marc

• Breeding (1%/yr)

– Plants – tannin/oil

– Animals

• Wearable device (ZELP – 50%?)

Do in 5-10 years

• Vaccine (20%)

• Inhibitors (>80%)

– Seaweed

– 3-NOP

• Early life programming

Summary of options for reducing Enteric Methane

Charmley et al. 2016; Grainger et al. (2009); Moate et al. (2011; 2014; 2016); Williams et al. (2019); Van Nevel and

Demeyer (1996); Machado et al. (2014); Li et al. (2018); Eckard and Clark (2018); Li et al. (2018), Meale et al. (2021)

Input management

• N fertiliser & organic inputs

– 4Rs: Rate, source, timing, placement

– Formulation• Slow release N

• Inhibitors (urease + nitrification)

• Legumes

– Less urea N

– Included in crop rotations

• Animals

– Urine = liquid urea

– Energy: protein in diet

Soil management

• More efficient use of soil N

• Less saturation & compaction

• Less soil disturbance

• Irrigation management

Options for reducing nitrous oxide loss

De Klein & Eckard 2008; Eckard R.J. et al. (2006); Christie et al. (2018); Smith et al. (2018)


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What can be done on farm now?Soil and Tree Carbon

• SOM (%) = Total SOC (%) x 1.72• SOC is ~58% of SOM

– But SOM is much more than SOC

• For soil health, productivity and resilience benefits

– Mainly in fast turnover fractions

• To liberate nutrients

• For climate change mitigation/ carbon offsets

– Mainly in slow turnover pools

• Most resistant forms are best for permanence

• But confer less productivity benefits

• These are not always the same objectives

Sequestration - Soil CarbonSoil Organic Matter vs Soil Carbon

Sequestration - Soil CarbonWhat determines SOC content?

Inputs

• Plant Growth

• Imported C

Outputs

• Microbial turnover

High rainfall = high

Drought = still high

In Australia rainfall has a dominant impact

Source: Jeff Baldock

Drought = lower

High rainfall = high

• Trees for carbon credits

– Struggle to match milk value of land – Leddin et al. (2012)

• Combining multiple benefits

– Salinity, biodiversity, aesthetics, shade and shelter, heat and cold stress, nutrient sinks

– Capital appreciation

• 20% tree coverage = 4 - 8% property value

Rethinking trees on farm

Leddin et al. (2012); Polyakov et al. (2015)


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On-farm Carbon Accounting

• “Not inconsistent with” the GHG inventory

– All GHG sources

– All sinks (fluxes not stocks)

• Categorised using the Climate Active (NCOS) definition

– Pre farm to farm gate LCA

– Calculated on an annual basis

• Scope 1

– Direct emissions from owned or controlled sources• e.g. methane and nitrous oxide

• Scope 2

– Indirect emissions • e.g. purchased electricity

• Scope 3

– Indirect emissions that occur in a company's value chain• e.g. pre-farm inputs and post-farm transport

Carbon Neutral Accounting The concept

• FarmPrint

– CSIRO - initial focus on dryland broadacre cropping

– Cradle-to-farm-gate approach

– Still in development

• CoolFarm*

– High level of detail

– Good for international comparison

– Not consistent with Australian NGGI method

• FarmGAS*

– Comprehensive coverage of all industries

– AFI - not current with inventory method

• LOOC-C

– Selection of ERF methods

– ERF methodology calculations

• GAF tools

– UniMelb/PICCC - Excel based

– Separate tools for Cropping, Livestock, Dairy, Feedlots, Sugar, Cotton etc

– Recent upgrade to Climate Active format

• DGAS

– Dairy-specific tool, with D-GAF underneath

– Includes pre-farm emissions

– Recent upgrade to Climate Active format

• Zero30 Beef Farmer Carbon Tracker Tool

– UNE - Web-based version of B-GAF

– Climate Active format

• FullCam

– Official carbon model for Australia

– Tree and soil carbon only

– Complex and spatial

Carbon Accounting Tools

• Greenhouse Gas emissions– Consistent with NIR

• Sheep, Beef (SB-GAF), Feedlot (F-GAF)

• Cropping (G-GAF), Sugar (S-GAF), Cotton (C-GAF)

• Dairy (D-GAF/DGAS)

• Carbon stocks and fluxes– Direct measurement

• or

– FullCam model• Soil carbon

• Vegetation carbon

Carbon Accounting

www.piccc.org.au/Tools

• Talaheni - Yass

– Low stocked wool

• Lower methane

– Significant land restoration

• Tree planting, natural regeneration, erosion control

• Jigsaw Farms - Hamilton

– High stocked beef and sheep

– Significant tree planting

• Salinity control

• Carbon offset planting

• Biodiversity

Carbon Neutral Accounting Dynamic accounting

Doran-Bowne et al. 2016, 2017

carbon neutral agriculture drivers, options and tools

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