This report contains a desktop study that compiles relevant empirical observations of the potential effect of plantain and forage rape on soil carbon and CenW simulations using the best available information on the key variables that will affect changes in soil organic carbon (SOC) under different forages.

Content Owner provides Executive Summary Eutrophic Lake Horowhenua is a source of N2O and CH4. When extrapolating our emission data to NZ, we estimate NZ lakes could release 82 kt of N2O and 118 kt of CH4 as CO2eq each year, which is low in comparison to other sectors such as agriculture but not insignificant according to the UNFCCC reporting guidelines.

The purpose of this report is to assess the effects of proposed initiatives and policies on the Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP). We used the version of the New Zealand Forestry and Agricultural Regional Model (NZFARM) that had been parameterised for the agricultural emissions pricing assessment which was completed in 2022 for the Ministry for Primary Industries. The analysis was conducted at national scale to provide insights into the adoption of management practices and technologies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and the corresponding changes in net agricultural revenues, GHG emissions, agricultural production, and land use.

This report provides an update on an earlier assessment of nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from non-manure organic amendments to agricultural soils, conducted in 2014 (van der Weerden et al. 2014).

The purpose of this project was to take a comprehensive review of stock estimates and assumptions applied to the minor animal categories within the New Zealand national Greenhouse Gas (GHG) inventory methodology.

This report outlines the structure and function of a geneflow sub-model developed for use within the national inventory model.

This document provides a methodology to split the national deer herd between the enterprises of venison and velvet antler production to provide a mechanism to develop appropriate Emissions Intensity Values (EiV) to be applied to venison and velvet antler as two separate products.

The main outcome of this project is an agreed auditable system that can be used to account for methane reductions from livestock breeding at the individual animal, farm and national level. This can be used for farm auditing and accounting by individual farmers and for national auditing and accounting by the New Zealand government.

The purpose of this project is to review and revise current methods and assumptions in AIM for birth and slaughter dates for individual classes of sheep and beef cattle grown for finishing. The current analysis suggests that a few birth and slaughter variables and assumptions in AIM will need additional consideration.

Development of a software tool to automate the generation of the uncertainty calculation table reported in the national inventory for the agriculture sector of the greenhouse gas inventory.

Within the dairy sector, several databases exist that have recorded farms, animals, and milk production over time, as well as feed use both through time and seasonally. This report assesses the feasibility of combining these databases to provide monthly estimates of feeds (grown on farm and imported) eaten by dairy cows from 1990 to 2020 for different types of farm systems and regions of New Zealand.

The purpose of this project was to evaluate the potential number of livestock carried on lifestyle blocks and blocks of land not included in the sampling frame of the Agricultural Production Survey (APS) and to evaluate the potential impacts on these stocks on agricultural greenhouse gas emissions.

The aim of this project is to provide a pathway that enables New Zealand to implement the 2013 WS

methodology for drained Organic Soils. The objectives were to:

1 review spatial data to inform the current and 1990 extent of Organic Soils, and review classification

approaches and their implications

2 review approaches to estimating current and 1990 activity data for Organic Soil areas, including

nutrient status, drainage depth, and land-use class

3 review IPCC emission factors and existing greenhouse gas measurement studies from Organic Soils

in New Zealand, and examine the ability to derive New Zealand / region-specific emission factors

based on these data

4 provide recommendations to implement the 2013 WS at a minimum level and make recommendations

for where future research should be prioritised to improve emission estimates for drained Organic

Soils in New Zealand on the basis of the highest sources of emissions and/or the highest sources of

uncertainty

This report identifies the legal, time and financial barriers to native afforestation, as well as identifying past and current opportunities and future recommendations to incentivise native afforestation.

Default half-life values for the end-uses of harvested wood products is provided by the IPCC and have been used in the New Zealand Greenhouse Gas Inventory. However, these values do not provide accurate carbon stock and stock changes in harvested wood products in New Zealand. This report investigates and recommends country-specific half-life values for harvested wood product end-uses in New Zealand.

This report provides a survey on the afforestation intentions for exotic and indigenous forest, and deforestation intentions for planted forest up until 2030.

This report reviews the suitability of the FracLEACH parameter used to estimate the proportion of nitrogen (N) applied to agricultural land that is lost via leaching and runoff of N. The current inventory methodology employs a uniform FracLEACH of 0.07 of key N inputs, which is used for estimating a proportion of the indirect nitrous oxide emissions from agriculture.

The NZ Greenhouse Gas Inventory assumes that limestone products have 100% purity, however the purity varies depending on which sedimentary period the limestone was deposited in. This report analyses a range of historic literature, data and new samples to provide an estimate of the actual purity of limestone and dolomite applied to agricultural soils.

This report examines the potential for increasing net removals by pre-1990 forests towards NZ’s NDC target in terms of new practices, their impacts on net removals, their applicability to different forest types and the extent of those forests, and the opportunity to incentivise these management changes.

The report provides estimates of the financial impact on forest growers with pre-1990 forests if they were able to gain carbon recognition for changing forestry practice; specifically if they, changed forest management, rotation length, final crop stocking, growth rate, or converted from a production forest to a permanent forest

International forestry accounting rules under the Paris Agreement allow accounting for carbon sequestration above business-as-usual reference levels in pre-1990 forest that can be shown to result from forest management. This report assesses: management options that may promote carbon sequestration in pre-1990 natural forests relative to baseline levels, conditions where increased sequestration is likely to be observed, the potential magnitude of sequestration responses, and the potential uptake by landowners.

This report evaluates the European Forest Reference Level (FRL) approach proposed for EU member States, as the potential basis for developing New Zealand’s Forest Reference Level. Alternatives to this approach for NZ are also discussed that align with NZ’s national carbon inventory, available data, national circumstances, and forest management practices.

Evaluation of the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) in dis-incentivising deforestation. Deforestation levels with and without the ES and at various carbon prices.

The aims of this project were to (a) collate and analyse available pasture quality data to determine whether the data are statistically robust enough to provide nationally representative values for the key livestock classes on a monthly basis, (b) statistically derive the number of samples required to represent the seasonal and spatial variations of metabolisable energy (ME) and crude protein (CP) in each region; and (c) make clear recommendations for the establishment of a national pasture sampling programme.

A literature review was undertaken to understand the impact of grazing management, in particular, grazing interval, on pasture quality and the interactions with pasture species, season, land slope and other drivers of pasture quality in a New Zealand context.

This report documents the methodology and assumptions currently used to estimate animal live weight (and live weight gain) for beef and dairy cattle, deer, and sheep in the Agricultural Inventory Model (AIM), the model used to estimate New Zealand's agricultural GHG emissions.