Greenhouse Gases

New Zealand has both international and domestic climate change targets that cover all sectors of our economy. The Government has committed to introducing a system to price agricultural emissions by 2030 as part of meeting these targets.

New Zealand dairy companies and banks are also setting targets that address emissions behind the farm gate, often referred to as ‘Scope 3 emissions’. These targets are in addition to Government action on climate change.

These Scope 3 targets often seek to reduce emissions ‘intensity’, which is the emissions per unit of product, e.g. per kg of milksolids or per kg of Fat and Protein Corrected Milk (FPCM). This is driven by customer demand for lower emissions products and is different to government climate targets and to Scope 1 and 2 targets, which are focused on reducing total or ‘absolute’ emissions.

Owl Farm has been demonstrating best practice management to reduce GHG since its inception. At the March 2019 Farmer Focus Day, as a Partner Farm we hosted the GHG Partner Farm Launch in conjunction with DairyNZ for the Dairy Action for Climate Change (DACC) project.

We are also aligned with our partners scope 3 targets:

Fonterra: 30% reduction in on-farm emissions per kg of FPCM by 2030 from a 2018 baseline.
Westpac: 10% reduction in financed emissions intensity (tCO2-e/t Fat and Protein Corrected Milk) from a 2021 baseline.

In 2025 Owl Farm was proud to have achieved the Westpac Sustainable Farm Standard. This recognised the work completed to date to provide sustainable practices on farm. As part of this process we developed a Climate Change Adaptation Plan Owl Farm 2025 and a GHG Emissions Reduction Plan Owl Farm 2025 to guide our future investment and farm system planning.

The journey to date:

From 2014-15 to 2023-24 Owl Farm has reduced biological GHG by 33% (methane and nitrous oxide). This includes a reduction in methane of 26%. This difference over the ten years includes a 18% reduction in kg MS/ha (to 1,022 kg MS/ha) and a 2.5% decrease in production per cow (to 418 kg MS/cow/year), while Operating Profit has remained static as at 2023/24 at $2,362/ha.

As a System 2 farm, our production is strongly influenced by rainfall and increases in milk production, feed eaten and therefore methane production. Data trends show that we have been able to make reductions in emissions by reducing total production and maintaining profit.

Changes over the six years include:

Reduced stocking rate (less methane) with reduced urine patches (less nitrous oxide)
Reduction in imported supplements (less methane)
Breed high BW cows currently top 3% nationally (less methane and nitrous oxide)
Reduce replacement rate using sexed semen and focusing on meeting youngstock growth targets (less methane and nitrous oxide)
New pastures planted with Ecotain Plantain (4 kg/ha) (less methane and nitrous oxide)
Retire and plant unproductive land (less methane and increased carbon dioxide sequestration)
Reduce nitrogen application rates to below 30 kg N/ha per application (less nitrous oxide)
Use SustaiN and Smartfert (less nitrous oxide)
Upgrade effluent storage facilities to eliminate spreading during the winter months (less nitrous oxide)
Increase effluent area (less nitrous oxide)
Reduce nitrogen application during May – July (less nitrous oxide)
Use soil moisture probe and soil temperature data to ensure nitrogen is applied when soil temperatures are above 10°C and soil moisture levels are above stress point (less nitrous oxide).
Conduct Soil Total N tests to determine most efficient use of nitrogen (less nitrous oxide)
Reduce total nitrogen used in conjunction with My Pasture Planner (less nitrous oxide)
Constructed wetland with 63% removal of nitrates from a 7.6 ha catchment area (less nitrous oxide, more carbon sequestration)
Zero cultivation using direct drilling of Cleancrop varieties for all crops (less carbon dioxide).

The journey continues:

In the winter of 2020 Waikato University installed a CO₂ tower on the farm to investigate the effect of turnip cropping on soil carbon and greenhouse gas emissions. Owl Farm contributes data to this valuable research; more information can be obtained by contacting Aaron Wall at the University of Waikato.

Owl Farm has been focused on generating profit to pay down debt over the last three seasons, to position the business to continue investing in technology/systems infrastructure as they become proven in NZ dairy systems. We continue to invest in top genetics to convert high quality feed into milk. We are watching closely the research currently underway on:

Breeding low-emitting dairy cattle
Alternative feeds, including forage rape and plantain
Methane inhibitors