Review of greenhouse gas emissions from the storage and land application of farm dairy effluent

The second-largest contribution to GHG emissions from farm dairy effluent comes from nitrous oxide emissions from land application. Ammonia emissions from land application of effluent in New Zealand were found to be less than those reported elsewhere from the application of slurries. Recent studies have suggested that New Zealand's current GHG inventory method to estimate methane emissions from effluent ponds should be revised.

The increasing importance of emissions from ponds, while being a challenge for the inventory, also provides an opportunity to achieve mitigation of emissions due to the confined location of where these emissions occur.