Carbon Farming and What It Means For You
Carbon Farming and What It Means For You
Gwymac Inc partnered with Nullamanna Landcare Group to address the topic of soil carbon and carbon farming - identifying the importance of carbon sequestration in soils, the important role soil carbon plays in agriculture, its role in offsetting emissions and how farmers can earn income by improving their soil and therefore improving the resilience of the agricultural sector.
Taking Action -
LLCI031-050
The issue
Gwymac Inc and the Nullamanna Landcare Group were seeking answers to the importance/ relevance of carbon trading for landholders in the Inverell region. With a lot of media coverage on the importance of soil health, the Group were looking to further understand the importance of the carbon cycle and carbon sequestration, find out exactly what 'carbon projects' are, what do they mean to landholders and what is involved in aggregating and selling soil carbon credits.
The solution
Gwymac applied to the Northern Tablelands Local Land Services Small Community Grants program and were able to secure funds to run a one day workshop/information session with two high profile keynote speakers, namely Terry McCosker from Resource Consulting Services in Yeppoon, Qld and Louisa Kiely from Carbon Farmers Australia in southern NSW. A one day workshop was held in Inverell in May, 2018.
The impact
Over 50% of the participants surveyed indicated that they had an increased knowledge of carbon in soils as well as carbon sequestration and that the market mysteries of carbon trading had been explained. Over 80% of the participants indicated that they would be applying the knowledge gained from the workshop to increase soil carbon on their farm/implement carbon projects and move forward with cover crops and improve production. The speakers were very well received by the attendees with participants travelling an average of 300km to attend the event and one participant travelling 1000km in order to listen to Terry McCosker.
Key facts
- Carbon lost from soils significantly reduces the productive potential of land and the profitability of farming.
- Soil dysfunction impacts on animal health and human health.
- Carbon trading is possible....but complicated.