Net zero livestock farming needs multiple strategies

Moffitts Farm’s multi-disciplinary approach to livestock genetics, pasture species, agroforestry and biolinks adopted and progressively fine tuned since 2000 to achieve net zero emissions is in line with southern Australian sheep and cattle farming carbon abatement research published in April 2025

A new study published in Nature Communications using computer modelling, looked at different strategies to reduce emission for two different enterprises in Tasmania under three different climate scenarios, historical climate, the future 2030 and 2050.  

The researchers used detailed farm data from a beef operation in north-west Tasmania and a sheep farm in the Midlands to model alternative mixes of abatement strategies. Most single strategies delivered incremental gains, but when the modelled farms combined different approaches, known as “stacking”, there was more success in lowering emissions and boosting productivity.  

The modelled beef/sheep farm showed greatest reduction in emissions by combining: 

• Feed additives (e.g Agolin, 3 NOP, Asparagopsis) that reduce methane from ruminant livestock.
• Better genetics: selecting for improved feed conversion efficiency via growth rate and fertility traits to increase productivity while reducing enteric methane emissions .
• Tree planting for shade and shelter.
• Renovating pasture with legumes and higher digestibility and palatability perennial grasses to increase animal growth rates.

When strategies were stacked together, they estimated a possible reduction in emissions while the modelled farms also showed productivity gains. 

The study also discussed factors that might need consideration: 

• Land use changes: Crop to pasture, pasture to crop, land for tree plantings etc. 
• Costs: Better genetics, feed additives, and pasture renovation all require investment 
• Knowledge: Additional skills and knowledge may be needed to monitor emissions and adopt practice change 
• And then there is also the climate variability and seasonal conditions 

The paper also mentions that buying carbon credits to offset emissions was the most expensive way to reach net zero and was less preferable to farmers. 

The researchers make an important point about interventions that sequester additional carbon in soils and/or vegetation, such as pasture renovation with lucerne/clovers or planting trees are however characterised by diminishing longitudinal carbon sequestration.  Assuming other aspects remain unchanged, annual carbon emissions would be expected to vary around some constant value, while carbon removals would diminish as trees approach maturity, making prospects of attaining net-zero increasingly difficult with the passage of time.

This could be countered  in many ways, for example via agroforestry, where portions of farm area are sequentially sown then harvested for timber as trees approach maturity. Provided carbon in harvested timber was not permitted to re-enter the atmosphere (e.g. use of timber in construction materials), longitudinal carbon removals of the farm business would no longer plateau, as some plantations would always be approaching, or in, periods of peak growth.

The researchers suggest that farming systems approaches that afford such asynchronous temporal carbon sequestration, together with practices that reduce CH4 emissions in concert with practices that avoid CH4 emissions (improving animal growth rates and earlier sales) or CO2(renewable energy on-farm), will be increasingly called for in future, particularly if farms are mandated to reduce GHG emissions.

This study shows that a whole-farm approach should be considered rather than single solutions. Every farm is different and what worked in these models may not work everywhere, and consideration needs to be made for different locations, climates, farming systems and balancing trade-offs around land use, costs, and complexity. Farmers looking to future-proof their operations could benefit from improved market access and enhanced biodiversity and environmental stewardship, without sacrificing productivity and potentially profitability. 

Sources: NSW DPIRD On-Farm Carbon Advice Newsletter, September 2025. Original published paper “Costs of transitioning the livestock sector to net-zero emissions under future climates”, Bilotto F. et al, Nature Communications (April 2025) 16: 3810