Journal article
Whole-farm systems analysis of Australian dairy farm greenhouse gas emissions
KM Christie, CJP Gourley, RP Rawnsley, RJ Eckard, IM Awty
Animal Production Science | Published : 2012
DOI: 10.1071/AN12061
Abstract
The Australian dairy industry contributes ∼1.6% of the nation's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, emitting an estimated 9.3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO 2e) per annum. This study examined 41 contrasting Australian dairy farms for their GHG emissions using the Dairy Greenhouse Gas Abatement Strategies calculator, which incorporates Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Australian inventory methodologies, algorithms and emission factors. Sources of GHG emissions included were pre-farm embedded emissions associated with key farm inputs (i.e. grains and concentrates, forages and fertilisers), CO 2 emissions from electricity and fuel consumption, methane emissions from e..
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Funding Acknowledgements
This study was supported by funding from Dairy Australia, the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture and the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry under its Australia's Farming Future Climate Change Research Program. The authors want to thank Dairy Australia, the Department of Primary Industries Victoria, Incitec-Pivot, Megafert, Impact and Land and Water Australia for funding the A4N program. In addition the authors would like to thank the farmers who participated in the A4N program and acknowledge the team of data collectors and those associated with collating, processing and interpreting farm data.