Australian study outlines pathway to net-zero emissions for livestock sector

SYDNEY, May 13 (Xinhua) -- An Australian study outlines a pathway to net-zero emissions for the country's livestock sector, showing that farmers can cut emissions while boosting both productivity and profits, the University of Tasmania has revealed.

The five-year research, which reveals the true cost of achieving net-zero emissions on Australian livestock farms, shows that emission reductions don't have to come at the expense of profitability, especially when multiple mitigation strategies are used together, a press release from the university said on Monday.

"You don't get major reductions in on-farm emissions from a single practice change. But stacking interventions offers the most cost-effective route to net-zero emissions," said the study's lead author Matthew Harrison from the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture (TIA), a joint venture between the University of Tasmania and the Tasmanian government.

The stacking interventions cited by Harrison include improving animal breeding to enhance the efficiency of conversion of feed into meat and milk, feeding cattle and sheep in ways that produce less greenhouse gasses, and taking more carbon from the atmosphere and storing it in soils and trees.

The study, published in Nature Communications, modeled various emission-reduction strategies in collaboration with local farmers and found the cost of achieving net-zero could range from basically no cost to more than half a farm's income, depending on the approach, the release said.

The most effective and profitable strategies included combining anti-methanogenic feed additives with tree planting and diversifying income through renewable energy, such as wind turbines, Harrison said, adding that relying solely on purchasing carbon credits to offset emissions, a less publicly supported option, proved to be the most expensive pathway.

While absolute net-zero may be out of reach for many, meaningful year-on-year emissions reductions are achievable, he said, adding farmers should compare their emissions to their own past performance rather than to others. Enditem