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.
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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]