The Prime Minister John Key has opened an agricultural gas research centre in Palmerston North which will focus on cutting emissions from emissions from animals.
The centre will have funding of about $50 million dollars for 10 years.
It will be run by AgResearch in partnership with four other Crown Research Institutes, two universities and two industry consortiums.
Mr Key told the audience that about half of New Zealand's greenhouse emissions come from agriculture.
He says the new centre will help to research ways to lower these emissions, while also making its findings available free to other countries so they can share the benefits.
Federated Farmers president Don Nicholson warns that farmers won't buy into greenhouse gas-reducing solutions unless they are cost-effective and returns a profit.
The centre's partners are AgResearch, Landcare Research, NIWA, Plant and Food Research, Scion, Lincoln University, Massey University, Pastoral Greenhouse Gas Research Consortium and DairyNZ.
