Greenhouse gas emissions
On-farm emissions sources of all three crops are shown below in Figure 2. For wheat and sorghum, the greatest contributions to the total Global Warming impacts were the production and use of fertiliser. Residue emissions also made a considerable contribution to Global Warming impacts. The relatively low rates of fertiliser use for chickpea production meant that residue emissions were the dominant source of Global Warming impacts for this crop and that impacts associated with the production of fertiliser, tractor operations and chemical production were relatively high.
Figure 2: Greenhouse gas emissions profile for the production of wheat, sorghum and chickpeas in the NSW NE Qld SE agroecological zoneGreenhouse gas mitigation strategies
Mitigation strategies tested for the region were;
- Sustainable intensification
- Implementation of variable rate fertiliser technology
- Changing a wheat-wheat rotation to a legume-wheat rotation
More information on the assumptions used to test these strategies and how they might reflect individual enterprises are available on the Mitigation strategies page.
Results (Figure 3 below) indicate that emissions of a t of wheat can be reduced by;
- 59% through the implementation of sustainable intensification
- 15% by implementation of variable rate fertiliser technology
Results also indicate the replacing a wheat crop with a legume crop in a two-crop rotation can increase greenhouse gas emissions intensity by 99%.
Figure 3: Reductions in greenhouse gas emissions for wheat production when grown with sustainable intensification, variable fertiliser and legume - wheat mitigation strategies in the NSW NE Qld SE agroecological zone
Accessible Content
Visit accessible versions of the raw data used to generate these charts.Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Wheat | Sorghum | Chickpeas | |
---|---|---|---|
Lime production | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Lime use | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Fertiliser production | 145.4706 | 85.30427 | 48.7721 |
Fertiliser use | 216.6875 | 127.066 | 16.9441 |
Residue emissions | 54.9992 | 54.9992 | 78.67765 |
Transport | 2.177172 | 1.276468 | 0.9168 |
Tractor operations | 33.77696 | 21.25773 | 51.80157 |
Chemical production | 51.00092 | 43.62361 | 83.33192 |
Calc total | 504.1123 | 333.5273 | 280.4441 |
Mitigation Strategies
Strategy | Results |
---|---|
Sustainable intensification | -59 |
Legume wheat rotation | 99 |
Additional lime applications | N/A |
Variable rate technology fertiliser | -15 |