Associate Professor Richard Eckard, Director of the Primary Industries Climate Challenges Centre at the University of Melbourne said the wine industry’s use of nitrogen fertiliser, which can create the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide when added to soil, is very tactical and targeted.
“Their nitrous oxide emissions are actually very small. If the entire industry halved their emissions, it would contribute two thirds of nothing. The emissions from extensive grain production is quite low as well. The real emissions are from livestock industries,” said Associate Professor Eckard, who was not involved in the study.
“The most effective thing livestock producers can do is focus on emissions intensity. That means changing the efficiency of their system, like breeding their cows a year earlier so their system is more efficient and each kilogram of beef comes with a lower footprint,” he said.
“In the dairy industry, that may mean moving to extended lactation or in the wool industry increasing fertility of the flock through higher lambing rates. The biggest net change we can make in livestock is with animal numbers, by producing more product with the same input.”
Richard Eckard is an Associate Professor with the Melbourne School of Land and Environment, The University of Melbourne, and is Director of the Primary Industries Climate Challenges Centre, a joint venture with the Department of Primary Industries, Victoria. Jeremy Galbreath is an Associate Professor of Business at Curtin University.
This piece was first published on The Conversation.
