CANFA Comment

I have just spent the last 2 days at the 6th annual 2012 Carbon Farming Conference and Awards Dinner in Dubbo. Michael and Louisa Kiely should feel very proud of their achievements in running another very successful forum with an excellent range of speakers; farmers, researchers, politicians, economists, lawyers; you name it they were all there. And for good reason – because I feel that the issue of carbon farming is finally starting to get somewhere!
Obviously one of the main items of discussion was the Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI) and the future potential for farmers to be involved in this program through carbon sequestration. Whilst it is clear that there are still some hurdles to overcome, quite a deal of work is being done to prepare methodologies for carbon sequestration for cropping and grazing situations to put before the Domestic Offsets Integrity Committee (DOIC) for assessment.
Two hurdles currently creating large impediments for approval by farmers are “additionality” – whether the farming system you propose to use “adds value” to the status quo and secondly, “permanence” (the 100 year rule). The Federal MP and Parliamentary Secretary DCCEE, the Hon. Mark Dreyfus reiterated the Federal Labour Party needs to continue its 100 year rule to meet its Kyoto Protocol requirements, whilst the Hon. Greg Hunt MP, Shadow Minister for Climate Action, Environment and Heritage put forward an alternative idea of 25 years. Other alternatives were also proposed – the one that interested me the most was proposed by Tony O’Hara from HHM Management (who John Lawrie currently works with) for tCER’s (temporary Certified Emission Reductions) which would have a 15 year contract but would attract less payment per tonne of carbon, a scenario that I think most farmers would accept just so they can start to trade.
It was also exciting to hear Alistair Handley speak about the trading environment he has been involved in Alberta Canada for the past 6 years. His company, Carbon Credit Solutions, is the largest privately held carbon offset aggregation business in Alberta and has generated over 1.3 million tonnes of verified carbon credits.
The Conference closed with an air of anticipation based on current activities in soil carbon measurement. Terry McCosker from RCS (Grazing For Profit) left us hanging stating that a new methodology will be forthcoming around March next year. This system will be very expansive and will enable us as farmers to get involved in the business of creating carbon credits through soil sequestered carbon. We will wait in expectation!!

The passage of the Clean Energy (Carbon Tax) Bill 2011 through both houses of the Australian parliament will undoubtedly go down as a major event in our agricultural history. Whether you agree with the politics of this Bill or not, this decision will impact greatly on how we may operate as farmers and how we are viewed in the eye of the general public. And this is despite the carbon price not including agricultural emissions from livestock or fertiliser use!

The Bill will have implications for farming from 1 July 2012 onwards under the Carbon Farming Initiative which is designed to create economic rewards for farmers and land managers who reduce pollution or store carbon in the landscape.

An ongoing Biodiversity Fund ($946 million over the first six years) will be established for projects to protect biodiverse carbon stores and secure environmental outcomes from carbon farming.

An ongoing Carbon Farming Futures program ($429 million over the first six years) is designed to help farmers and landholders benefit from carbon farming by supporting research and development, measurement approaches and action on the ground to reduce emissions or store carbon, including support for conservation tillage equipment.

CANFA will be keeping an eye on the passage of this Bill and getting a better understanding of it and its impact on you as our members. We would be interested in your thoughts on this matter so please take the opportunity to post your thoughts here in the comments.

- Neville

For commentary on the media commentary of this week's Federal politics, check out Crikey.com's article online.

Welcome to the new-look CANFA website and the CANFA Comment, a forum where we can discuss some of the issues generating discussion in the industry. We would encourage your feedback in this forum.

When the issue of stubble burning came up a few months ago, we had some interesting correspondence and comments forwarded to CANFA. CANFA Comment is another avenue for letting us know what you think about some of the big issues impacting on your farming business and your day-to-day activities.

Coming up in a couple of weeks is our annual conference and dinner. This is another great forum in our annual calendar for discussing the challenges, technology and progress being made in conservation farming practice. We’re privileged to have Phil Needham attending as a guest speaker this year – a man who has helped grain growers in Kentucky (USA) double their wheat yields over the past 20 years. Phil will be holding a planter school on CANFA’s block, “Cadonia”, Wellington the day before the conference, where he will look at the set-up criteria for various planters, seed and fertiliser placement, straw and chaff spreading and other factors critical to streamlining crop and stubble management. There’s more information available about the planter school on the the website – it’d be great to see you there.

Obviously, the Federal Government’s carbon tax has taken the headlines lately and there’s also been some keen interest in what’s happening in the Lachlan catchment with the State Government-sponsored trial soil carbon trading scheme. Governments (and farmers) throughout Australia will be closely watching the NSW trial as it could influence a national scheme for sequestering carbon in soil. These are some of the happenings and issues we’ll be writing about in future CANFA Comments.

Finally, the USA/Mexico no-till tour is not far away and we still have some places left to fill. The books are open on this trip until 2 August – check out the itinerary on the website and let us know ASAP if you’re interested in going. We’ll be using the CANFA Comment to report back on highlights of the trip as it happens between 13 August – 11 September.

- Neville Gould