Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Dr Shane Reti made the announcement at a North Canterbury farm. Photo / RNZ, Monique Steele
By Monique Steele of RNZ
The Government is doubling down on supporting the development of new tools to reduce on-farm greenhouse gas emissions with a new co-investment, following its decision not to price agricultural emissions.
Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Dr Shane Reti were on-farm in North Canterbury’s Waikuku on Tuesday to announce the latest government co-investment in a new early-stage reduction tool.
Start-up Āmua was developing a smart device worn by cattle that sought to transform the naturally abundant resource of nitrogen from cows’ urine into an eco-friendly fertiliser.
It aimed to address freshwater nitrate leaching and nitrous oxide emissions at their source.
The start-up received $1.2 million from AgriZero, the government-industry partnership featuring the likes of Fonterra, Synlait and ANZCO, making it the 16th project to be funded by the joint venture.
Āmua’s prototype device was developed with support from the Ministry for Primary Industries’ Māori Agribusiness Innovation Fund, and was trialled on Ngāi Tahu Farming’s Te Whenua Hou dairy farms.
Highly concentrated nitrogen patches from cows’ urine in paddocks leached into groundwater and entered the atmosphere as nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas that accounted for nearly 16% of the country’s agricultural emissions, according to the Government’s Greenhouse Gas Inventory Report.
Modelling by AgResearch in the Bioeconomy Science Institute indicated that by spreading the concentrated urine patches across the paddock, the patented device could reduce nitrous oxide emissions by up to 95% and nitrate leaching by up to 93%, while maintaining similar pasture growth to the application of synthetic nitrogen.
Founder and chief executive Roger Johnson said it spent the past few years developing the new tool and testing it.
Johnson was tight-lipped on details about the device, but said it aimed to utilise the “massive resource” of nitrogen generated naturally by cows on farms, as it was only causing problems at present.
“The nitrogen in these [nitrogen] patches has always been seen as such a problem, right?” he said.
“It’s causing so much damage to freshwater.
“And then it causes nitrous oxide, which is 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide; so gnarly problems out of this insane resource.
“So we’re just swapping that around and giving it to the grass instead to grow.”
He said it would reduce farmers’ reliance on importing and using synthetic fertiliser.
“We want to create resilience for farmers to be able to supply their own nitrogen off their own farm.”
AgriZero chief executive Wayne McNee said it would be the joint venture’s first equity investment in nitrous oxide mitigation, which would play an important role in lowering overall emissions.
“Āmua is a brilliant example of Kiwi ingenuity to tackle a common challenge on-farm and potentially deliver a range of environmental and economic benefits,” McNee said.
“High-impact, scalable innovations like Āmua will be vital to meet global demand for emissions reduction and safeguard the export economy we all rely on.”
The new investment was part of a seed funding round for Āmua to support the next stage of development of pilot trials in 2026.
Ministers Nicola Willis and Dr Shane Reti joined investors at the Waikuku farm to showcase the Āmua project and a methane-cutting EcoPond effluent pond there too.
Willis said Āmua’s tool was “Kiwi innovation at its best”.
“There [are] these big, intense urine patches that are polluting our waterways and creating bad emissions.
“Yet that’s gold, and we could be using it to grow this grass, making farming cheaper and more sustainable.”
More than $190m was committed by AgriZero over its first four years, split by government and industry co-investment, to accelerate the development of reduction tools for farmers.
Willis said co-investment with the private sector saw the government dollar go further and ensured commercial buy-in in on-farm science.
“What felt like an impossible challenge, how do we reduce our greenhouse gas emissions in a way that doesn’t sacrifice farming as we know it, is actually an achievable change,” she said.
“Because already AgriZero is invested in multiple new innovations, not just because they’re clever science and they’re exciting, but because they can see they can have practical application on-farm.”
Dr Reti said innovation, technology and science were central to the government’s growth agenda.
“Research and development drive productivity and high-value jobs.
“Our goal is a system that empowers world-class scientists, universities, and research organisations to turn ideas into market-ready solutions,” he said.
Before the last general election, the National Party said it would consider implementing a pricing system for on-farm emissions.
“Keep agriculture out of the [Emissions Trading Scheme] but implement a fair and sustainable pricing system for on-farm agricultural emissions by 2030 at the latest,” the press release read.
“An independent board – with a power of veto retained by the Ministers of Climate Change and Agriculture – will be established to implement the pricing system.”
But Agriculture Minister Todd McClay’s office confirmed that Cabinet decided on September 22 that agricultural emissions would not be priced, a decision it said was supported by all Cabinet ministers.
While an independent methane science panel was established, the independent board to implement a pricing system was never established, his office said.
“The coalition Government agreed to not progress a pricing system for on-farm emissions and instead is committed to a technology-led approach to reducing emissions,” said McClay in a statement.
“We are investing $400m into solutions with three already available and an additional 11 expected to be available for farmers by 2030.”
Willis said government decisions reflected the will of all three coalition parties, and it was doubling down, giving farmers tools to “conquer these issues for themselves”.
“We don’t think a new tax is the solution to every problem,” she said.
“The question you have to always ask is, is it better to be taxing them and punishing them for emissions, or working alongside them to support them to make the investments that will reduce those emissions.
“And ultimately, as a government, the view we’ve taken at this point is let’s focus on the science, focus on the practical solutions, and give farmers a good way through.”
- RNZ