It is a sign of the times when farmers can now measure their own carbon footprint and calculate how the Government's proposed emissions trading scheme will affect their back pocket.
In recent weeks, Lincoln University and the Carbon Farming Group have released products they say would help farmers manage their business in these carbon-conscious times.
Lincoln University's agribusiness and economics research unit and engineering facility AgriLINK have developed a calculator which determines emissions from livestock, farm energy use, the use of fertiliser and feed to calculate methane, nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide emissions.
From information such as farm size, livestock numbers, fertiliser application, fuel use and contractor activities, the data is then converted and expressed as CO2 equivalents.
Research unit director Caroline Saunders said the carbon calculator was an extension of work in 2006 into food miles, which showed that even with transportation, New Zealand agricultural producers were more energy efficient than those in Europe.
Dr Saunders said the calculator would allow farmers to establish a benchmark for CO2 emissions which could be monitored each year, and from which reduction targets could be set.
The Carbon Farming Group, established with funding from the Tindall Foundation, has established a website with an online calculator which tells farmers how the Emissions Trading Scheme would affect them.
Under the Government's emissions trading scheme (ETS) proposal, agriculture starts paying for its carbon emissions in 2013, initially for any increase above 90% of what they were in 2005 and for 100% of its emissions by 2030.
A carbon farming group trustee, Clayton Wallwork, said the sector had been flooded with information about the scheme, the Kyoto Protocol and what individual obligations could be.
His group aimed to provide independent advice and information.
"The sooner farmers have access to this information the better. . . . Emission-reducing processes and systems can save money and may increase productivity and profitability," he said.
The two sites are: www.lincoln.ac.nz/carboncalculator/ and www.carbonfarming.org.nz.
NZPA reports Australian scientists are looking at incorporating cotton-seed waste in the diet of cows to reduce their methane emissions.
Chris Grainger, a Victorian state researcher in Gippsland, told the ABC that feeding livestock some by-products from other industries might reduce the methane given off by micro-organisms which help ruminants digest food.