1. Emissions of CH4 and N2O from Agriculture in Ireland Michael McGettigan, Environmental Protection Agency

2. Principal Activity Data

3. Overall Sector Contribution and Trends  Agriculture accounted for 27.5% of total GHG emissions in 2000 (approx 34% in 1990)  Single largest source is CH4 emissions from enteric fermentation in non-dairy cattle (8.8%)  Direct N2O emissions from organic N higher than from chemical N  Nine key sources in agriculture (3 for N2O and 6 for CH4)  Contribution to national total is decreasing

4. Component Contributions and Trends

5. Key Sources - Emissions IPCC Level 2

6. Key Sources - Emissions by Source

7. Estimation of CH4  IPCC Tier 1 methods  Three-year averaging + summer-winter averaging of key livestock populations

8. Nitrogen Excretion/Management

9. Estimation of N2O  IPCC methods, accounting for all N inputs  Default emission factors (direct and indirect emissions)  Default + country-specific values of other variables;  Fractions of synthetic fertilizer N and livestock manure N that volatilizes as NH3 determined directly from NH3 inventory as 0.04 and 0.17, respectively (NOX emission assumed negligible)  Fraction N leached revised to 0.1 as determined from leaching studies and riverine N loading reported to OSPAR  Crop N now included (N-fixing and other) with default values of N fractions and residues/product ratios (Tier 1b)  N-fixing in grasslands not included

10. Ongoing Research/Improvement  CH4 measurement programme (SF6 technique) for the full range of cattle groups  Detailed characterisation of cattle feed intake  Country-specific Tier 2 emission factors for CH4  Detailed farm surveys to determine N excretion rates and the allocation of organic N by AWMS  N2O measurement programme accounting for typical range of chemical N inputs, typical soil types, rainfall and temperature  Country-specific emission factors for direct emissions of N2O  Implementation of new NH3 inventory with links to indirect emissions of N2O

11. Future Research  Major flux measurement campaign for land types  Model development to represent gas exchange  Up-scaling to determine annual balances  Linking to LULUCF research projects and reporting for LULUCF source/sink categories  Assessment of carbon storage capacity of grasslands  Introduction of NH3 abatement options