AUSTRALIAN grain growers will be able to sell their agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions credentials with confidence according to the findings of a recent Grains Research and Development Corporation commissioned report.
The report, 'Australian Grains Baseline and Mitigation Assessment', found that the previous methodology used to factor in Australian croppers' emissions was not based on current farming practices and that emissions were in fact markedly lower.
The GRDC report, compiled by CSIRO, has Australian wheat emissions at 307kg of carbon dioxide (co2) equivalent per tonne and barley at 261kg/co2/t.
This is massively under previously used figures for Australian grain production from the International World Food LCA Database (WFLDB) of 498kg/co2/t for wheat and 426/co2/t for barley.
It means of the major cereal producing nations only Argentina has a lower rate of emissions.
CSIRO senior research scientist Maartje Sevenster, who worked on the project for 18 months, said the updated method of assessing Australia's emissions brought it in front of other leading grain producers such as the EU and North America.
"Other producers may well have some alterations to their emissions per tonne as a result of adjusted methods of calculation as well but based on the figures we have Australia produces less GHG per tonne of grain produced than places such as the EU, the US, Canada, Russia and the Ukraine," Dr Sevenster said.
GRDC chair John Woods said the findings would make it easier to find a home for Australian grain, with buyers increasingly conscious of food's carbon footprint.
"International markets are now looking to source grain grown with the lowest emissions and they should be looking at Australian grain growers," Mr Woods said.
"We are amongst the most efficient producers in the world," he said.
Being able to quantify their low emissions credentials will be an important edge for Australian growers already having to comply with sustainability frameworks, such as the international Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) scheme, to sell into carbon-conscious markets such as Europe.
Major private food manufacturers are also setting increasingly ambitious sustainability targets.
However, while the report found that Australian grain growers stacked up well against competitors, it also found there was limited scope to cut emissions while maintaining production, in the short-term at least.
The report found that reducing Australian emissions was unlikely while maintaining current production in the lead up to 2030.
Mr Woods said lowering Australian production to cut emissions was a false economy globally.
"You'd only be moving that production to somewhere else around the globe that can't grow the grain with as low a level of emissions as we can."
And the good news is that Australian production can be ramped up without a significant lift in emissions.
"We focused our assessment of mitigation opportunities on measures that would maintain or improve average production across the sector and found that it is possible to increase production dramatically while keeping net on-farm emissions more or less constant," Dr Sevenster said.
Both Mr Woods and Dr Sevenster said the data created via the report would be an important tool for the Australian grains industry.
"Having robust reference information for greenhouse gas accounting and assessing priorities for mitigation is essential," Dr Sevenster said.
"This type of information will also be increasingly important for the Australian grains industry in maintaining access to global markets."
The report found approximately 60pc of total grain production emissions occurred on-farm with the other 40pc external to the farmgate, including operations such as fertiliser manufacturing.
"That's where we see concepts like green ammonia playing a big role in the future, it may not be available in the short term but down the track it could lead to some substantial cuts in emissions," Mr Woods said.
The report modelled six scenarios to see the impact on emissions savings, current rotations and nitrogen rate, best practice nitrogen application, perfect nitrogen management, optimised rotation, green ammonia fertiliser and controlled traffic farming.
The grains production sector has been supportive of the report and its findings.
Grain Producers Australia chair Barry Large welcomed the policy debate the report will spark..
Mr Large in particular welcomed the report's focus on highlighting the work Australian grain producers are already doing, to continue producing grains sustainably and building a strong reputation.
"In order to continue producing grains more sustainably, Australian grain producers also need to be more profitable - especially when we compete against other export countries where those growers receive massive government subsidies, to help mitigate production risk-management," Mr Large said.
Grain Growers also applauded the findings.
"We welcome the report as it provides more data for the Australian grains industry and for growers as they consider emissions and make decisions based on their extensive knowledge and understanding of their own farms and communities." said Grain Growers chair Brett Hosking.
"This report recognises that our Australian growers are already leading the world in adopting practises that have seen improvement in a really complicated space.
"Practices such as reduced or minimum tillage, progressive cropping rotations and precision application of inputs are already seeing reduced emissions while ensuring the production of food isn't compromised."
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