Farmers get ready to trade carbon

Farmers get ready to trade carbon

WESTERN MAGAZINE REPORTS;

When the first Carbon Farming conference was held five years ago, it was just a dream. Five years on and the carbon farming intiative (CFI) legislation dominated the topics at this year’s conference. Convenor Louisa Kiely, who is the director of Carbon Farmers Australia and a Goolma district farmer, said the change was amazing. “We have been able to start moving away from theory towards rewarding practice,” Mrs Kiely said. “When we started five years ago this was just a dream- can soil carbon ever be a mainstream mitigation strategy? This is a turning point- by this time next year trading will be a reality.” Mrs Kiely said the change in attitude to carbon farming was evident with some of this year’s delegates. She said there was quite a bit of interest from new exhibitors and sponsors, while farmer delegates included a mix of innovators as well as those who were finding out more. Speakers at the conference included federal senator Matt Thistlewaite who said the CFI would give a lot of opportunities. “By 2020 the credits created by this initiative could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars for rural and regional Australia,” he said. Senator Thistlewaite said the scheme would provide economic value for those who adopt best practice. “The aim of the scheme is not only to recognise and encourage practices existing and taking place but also to encourage further uptake in those who aren’t currently doing those practices,” he said. For farmer Jeremy Bradley, who has a property on the north coast of NSW, this scheme has the benefit of providing financial incentives to farmers to change to carbon friendly practices. “Carbon is the driver of soil fertility,” he said. “Everything works better with carbon and hopefully we can get paid to put it there. “If people are paid to sequester carbon it is a huge step for food security.” Mrs Kiely said that farmers do hold a lot of power in shaping the future. “It is slowly starting to sink in that soil is the largest carbon sink under the control of man and farmers control over 50 to 60 per cent of that land mass,” she said. “That makes farmers very important in the future.”