Introduction to New Zealand's Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Management

Overview

There is increasing international, national and public pressure to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions associated with agriculture and food production at the farm level. Consumers seek premium foods with lower greenhouse gas (GHG) footprints.

Understanding GHG emissions from pastoral production systems is therefore important as it is the first step to reducing and mitigating the emissions. Rural professionals with a grounding in the skills required to measure the GHG footprint are needed to guide farmers in developing emissions reduction plans for their farming business.

Course development was partially funded by DairyNZ’s Transforming the Dairy Value Chain Primary Group Partnership programme and draws on material from an earlier course funded by the Fertiliser Association of New Zealand and MPI.

Who this course is for

Rural professionals.

What you'll get

Successful participants will have five credits added to their academic records at Massey.

Prerequisites

Participants must have completed Intermediate Sustainable Nutrient Management in New Zealand agriculture

or

have in the previous three years passed the Massey University course 189362 Integrated Farm and Environmental Management or the Lincoln University course SOSC340 Advanced Soil Management, with a B grade or higher.

or

if you can, show you are an experienced Overseer software user and have a science qualification in agricultural carbon and nitrogen cycles, our course controller may approve entry to the course.

Learning outcomes

On completion of this course, the rural professional will be able to:

• understand the reasons for New Zealand’s commitment to reducing agricultural GHG emissions
• advise farmers of management changes that will result in GHG emissions reduction for pastoral farming systems.

Course content and structure

This course presents New Zealand’s agricultural GHG emissions in the context of their contribution to global emissions and climate change. An introductory understanding of the GHG source/sink from the carbon and nitrogen cycles in NZ farming systems is developed, with an emphasis on pastoral and forestry systems.

The online study material, short course presentations and use of Overseer Nutrient budgeting software will introduce the participants to the skills required to develop emissions reduction plans for actual pastoral farming enterprises. The course will expose participants to the latest in GHG mitigation research for pastoral and arable farming.

This course aims to provide the rural professional with:

• knowledge of the causes of global climate change, as well as the impacts of a changing climate on New Zealand agriculture with the contribution of the carbon and nitrogen cycles in New Zealand’s agricultural systems to global GHG emissions
• an introduction to current New Zealand Government policy, accounting protocols and emissions trading scheme
• an introduction to the skills to undertake GHG accounting for agricultural systems
• an introduction to the advice required by farm managers on GHG emission mitigation practices.

Activities

Assessment

A two-hour written examination at the end of the course is worth 100% of the course marks.

Requirements to successfully complete the course

To successfully complete the course you need to:

• complete all recommended online study and report preparation
• pass a quiz after each lecture in order to go to the following lecture
• attend Zoom meetings
• obtain a minimum of a C- grade (>50%) aggregate in the final 2-hour examination.

Course facilitators

The course will be delivered by science teams from AgResearch, Massey University and the New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre and policy experts from the Ministry of Primary Industry (MPI).

Registrations

For all course enquiries and to register your interest, please email Fiona Bardell at F.M.Bardell@massey.ac.nz.

Contact information