Carbon explained: livestock farming strategies and success stories

Farm Online

We take a look at the carbon journey in the livestock business - what farmers need to know to get started and lessons from those leading the way.

Transcript

00:00 [Music]

00:03 Not so long ago, carbon was a word very few farmers used.

00:06 Yet for those on the land, it's always been a part of business.

00:10 Half of all the crops and pastures we grow is carbon.

00:13 Today it's something that everybody's talking about.

00:16 As livestock producers, we know that we have to both reduce greenhouse gas emissions

00:21 and store as much carbon in the landscape as we can in order to play our part in the climate solution.

00:26 Here, we investigate the journey of carbon in livestock.

00:30 [Music]

00:34 Professor Richard Eckhart from the University of Melbourne

00:37 researches carbon neutral agriculture.

00:39 He's a science advisor to the Australian and New Zealand governments on climate change adaptation in ag.

00:45 Professor Eckhart, people refer to the carbon cycle in livestock.

00:49 What is it?

00:50 So the carbon cycle in our agricultural systems, we're all in the carbon game

00:54 because if you look out there at pasture, 46% of what you're looking at is carbon.

01:00 We talk of nitrogen use efficiency, nitrogen is only 3%.

01:03 Almost half of all organic material is carbon, so actually most farmers are in the carbon game.

01:07 What we talk about in the carbon cycle is how efficient are you at capturing photosynthesis,

01:12 taking CO2 out the atmosphere and locking it into plants that we then either sell as crops

01:18 or we sell as livestock products.

01:20 So very much is around carbon conversion.

01:23 And the real question is how much carbon do we keep in the soil?

01:26 How much carbon do we keep in trees?

01:28 How much carbon can we send through to a product like wheat or milk or meat?

01:33 And then how much carbon goes to the atmosphere as methane is the imbalance in that system.

01:37 What about sequestration?

01:39 It's a fancy word, but what does it actually mean?

01:42 Sequestration is really saying can you take carbon out the atmosphere

01:45 and store it long term either in the soil or in trees?

01:49 So you look at the carbon cycle, there's lots of carbon coming in,

01:52 lots of carbon going out.

01:53 That's what microbes do, they turn it over and that's what agricultural systems do.

01:57 But you can't count it because if it comes in, it usually goes out within the same 12 months.

02:02 So you either bring it in on the incoming side of the ledger

02:05 and it goes out on the outside of the ledger.

02:07 So in carbon accounting, all we work on is what hangs around for 10 years or more.

02:11 So can we bring carbon out?

02:13 Can we put it in the soil where it stays for at least a decade at a time?

02:16 Can we put it in a tree where it stays for a decade at a time?

02:20 But the flaw in the plan is sometimes it goes into methane

02:23 and stays there for a decade at a time and that's the imbalance.

02:26 Victorian livestock producers Fiona Conroy and Cam Nicholson

02:31 are as carbon literate as farmers come.

02:34 They run a fine wool merino flock and an Angus herd near Geelong.

02:37 Their journey began 30 years ago,

02:39 but it had nothing to do with carbon markets or ESG credentials.

02:43 When we started farming about 30 years ago,

02:47 we were very much focused on increasing production.

02:50 So we did a lot of measurements and along those way,

02:54 those measurements included carbon by default,

02:56 but we focused on things like soil fertility levels

03:00 and we looked at improving our pastures.

03:02 And we went from annual pastures to perennial pastures

03:05 with the idea of increasing productivity.

03:07 And what we've effectively done is we've gone from paddocks

03:10 that were mainly annuals or in some paddock cases,

03:13 paddocks that were cropped.

03:14 And we've gone into filaris based pastures, ryegrass and fescue.

03:19 But along the way, what we've found is as we've increased our soil fertility

03:22 and we've increased our perennial pastures,

03:24 we've doubled our stocking rate.

03:26 And then things like tree planting's been a really crucial part of our farm business.

03:30 So when we came into the farm business,

03:32 the first thing we did was look at planting trees for a whole heap of reasons.

03:37 So we started with double fencing boundary fences for biosecurity benefits.

03:42 We went through and double fenced paddocks to look at improving shelter and shade for animal

03:46 and improve animal welfare.

03:48 And we've certainly seen the benefits of that coming through in terms of lambing percentages.

03:53 Then we went through and we fenced off water courses and drainage lines to reduce erosion.

03:59 And that's improved the water quality that's leaving the property,

04:02 but it's also improved the water quality that the stock are having access to.

04:06 On the way, that's improved biodiversity.

04:09 The next step we've done is we've actually put in a couple of woodlots.

04:12 So we're looking at trees for timber production.

04:14 And lo and behold, it's all adding to carbon sequestration.

04:18 I don't think we will look at selling carbon.

04:22 I think if you're going to go into something like ACCU's,

04:24 you need to have a new project and introduce new management changes.

04:28 Most farmers are now aware that actually,

04:30 if they want to sell to their own supply chain by 2030,

04:33 they have to demonstrate some action.

04:35 And so we've seen quite active engagement in what are the options coming through.

04:40 But at the end of the day, the challenge sits with us in research

04:43 to come up with cost effective ways to do it.

04:45 Start by keeping really good records of livestock numbers, maybe monthly,

04:50 different classes of livestock, whether they're gaining weight,

04:53 whether they're losing weight, and get a total handle on what your emissions are.

04:58 Understand what your emissions intensity is,

05:00 which is the amount of CO2 you're producing per kilogram of beef.

05:04 You're producing, we're going into a situation in the near future,

05:08 I think, where manufacturers and processors and feedlots

05:12 are going to be looking at sourcing low emissions intensity beef.

05:16 And if you can get a handle on what your emissions are,

05:19 and relative to your production, that's going to put you in a good position,

05:22 because your emissions on your farm will be a scope three emission

05:26 for someone further down the track in the processing sector.

05:29 And there'll be a clear advantage for people

05:31 if you can identify what your emissions are.

05:34 [Music]

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