Running carbon accounts on the University of New England’s research farms, covering nearly 3600 hectares, has found them to be operating on a carbon-neutral basis – at least for now.
UNE SMART Farms industry engagement manager, Dr Rachelle Hergenhan, who ran the accounting exercise, said the farms’ current C-neutral status is provisional because they are carrying low stock numbers post-drought.
But the exercise has provided a useful baseline against which future developments can be measured
For instance, Dr Hergenhan said, “We have large areas of native vegetation cover that are regenerating naturally, so it seems likely that even if we restore our grazing capacity over coming years, we will still be carbon-neutral or close to it”.
The baseline measurements, made with Meat & Livestock Australia's (MLA) carbon accounting tools, also show that actions like doubling the carrying capacity of UNE’s Tullimba research feedlot, currently rated to carry 1000 head of cattle, would push the farms’ overall carbon accounts well into the red. However, the greenhouse effects of Tullimba’s expansion could be neutralised by 40 hectares of tree planting.
“UNE doesn’t plan on trading carbon credits, but we do aim to run a profitable farming enterprise that limits as far as possible its contribution to greenhouse gases,” Dr Hergenhan said.
MLA has committed to making Australia’s red meat industries carbon-neutral by 2030. It is an aspirational goal, but Dr Hergenhan observes that the UNE SMART Farms accounting process suggests that it is not out of reach.
“UNE’s farms carry large areas of forest, so in that sense they are not representative of many livestock farms. But we do manage the land with the aim of running at a profit, like other producers, so this exercise show that for at least some farms, operating to make a profit while remaining carbon-neutral, or better, is a genuine possibility."
