Supporting farmers to reduce on-farm emissions
New Zealand farmers are some of the world's most emissions-efficient producers of meat and dairy.
The agriculture sector has an important role to play in meeting our climate change obligations.
To support the reduction of emissions on-farm, we’re investing in the development of tools and technology.
On-farm emissions calculator
In October 2025, an online calculator was released to help farmers estimate their on-farm greenhouse gas emissions. An updated version of the tool was released in April 2026.
The on-farm emissions calculator and the software underpinning it were funded by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI).
Visit the AgMatters website to use the calculator
Wider benefits
The software powering the calculator can be integrated with existing farm management tools.
This will enable processors and agri-tech companies to use the same robust methodology.
It will give farmers the ability to estimate their emissions using existing data, saving time.
A standard way to estimate emissions
We have worked with the sector to develop the standard way to estimate a farm's agricultural greenhouse gas emissions. This is to ensure:
- transparency
- consistency
- robustness
- fairness.
The first version of the standard methodology was released in December 2024 and was updated in April 2026.
Updates to the methodology
The updated version of the methodology includes the latest science, industry feedback, as well as mitigation technologies. These include:
- introduction of low-methane sheep genetics and methane reducing effluent management tools
- introduction of farmer inputs for effluent management and breed-based liveweights for dairy
- introduction of organic fertiliser and liming
- extending the supplementary feed list
- reflecting parameter updates from the national greenhouse gas inventory.
Other industry calculators
There are more than 10 existing emissions calculators, all using different methods to estimate emissions.
We expect those calculators and farm management tools to use our standard methodology.
Having a standard method:
- is a critical part in supporting farmers to understand the main drivers of emissions and ways to reduce them
- provides an opportunity to enhance the credibility of sustainability claims made by our food and fibre exporters
- would enable new products and features that improve farm management and reporting.
Having a standard method also enables new products and features that improve farm management and reporting.
Using the methodology
The latest version of the methodology includes current science, industry practice, and mitigation technologies. New technologies will be added to annual updates as they become available.
The method was released in 2 formats:
- a technical paper that provides detail on the method and its sources
- a codebase that enables users to test and adopt the method, including guidance on the definition and format of input data.
NZ farm emissions method: A farm-level approach for estimating biogenic emissions [PDF, 3.7 MB]
Technical advice and support
A Technical Advisory Group (TAG) supports the development and ongoing update of the standardised methodology.
Sector leaders helped set up the group.
