Reducing uncertainty and best management practices for minimising greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture

According to the Australian Greenhouse Office’s (AGO) National Greenhouse Gas Inventory, agriculture contributes 17.7% of Australia’s net national greenhouse gas emissions (Fig. 1), and is the dominant national source of both methane (67.9%) and nitrous oxide (77.1%) gas in Australia (AGO 2004). Methane and nitrous oxide are potent greenhouse gasses with global warming potentials of 21 and 310 times that of carbon dioxide, respectively. The contribution of methane and nitrous oxide from the agricultural sector is high relative to most developed countries, apart from New Zealand, where their national inventory attributes more than 50% of emissions to the agricultural sector.