Energy requirements of inputs to agriculture in New Zealand

Abstract

The growing demand for information about the energy requirements of various processes and commodities has led to the rapid development of a new field of study known as energy analysis. Since 1975, staff at the Joint Centre for Environmental Sciences have been using the techniques of energy analysis to determine the energy requirements of agriculture in New Zealand (see Pearson and Corbet 1976; Pearson 1977). Energy inputs to agriculture may be direct or indirect, and the indirect component usually comprises a large proportion of the total energy required for farming in developed countries: about 45% in New Zealand (Pearson and Corbet 1976), 37% in Australia (Gifford and Millington 1975) and 44% in the U.S.A. (Steinhart and Steinhart 1974). This paper reports a comprehensive list of estimated energy requirements for materials and equipment used in agriculture in New Zealand. The study was divided into three parts: - the evaluation and conparison of overseas estimates of the energy requirements of agricultural materials and equipment; - the calculation of the additional energy required to transport items to New Zealand; and - the calculation of the energy requirements for items partly or fully manufactured or assembled in New Zealand.