Australian cattle farmers say they are part of climate solution
20/08/2021
Meat and Livestock Australia reported 21% strongly believed farmers were committed to improving their environmental performance and adapting to a warmer, drier climate; while 44% somewhat agreed and 17% were neutral.
NFF CEO Tony Mahar said: “Agriculture is one large carbon cycle: generating emissions but also taking a significant amount of carbon from the atmosphere.
“Now mainstream practices such as rotational grazing, zero soil disruption when planting a crop and the conversion of livestock effluent to renewable energy have seen Australian agriculture reduce its direct greenhouse gas emissions by 65% between 2004-05 and 2016-17.
“Farmers are on a journey and there is more work to do. Through new science and technologies, like feed additives that drastically reduce livestock emissions, agriculture is poised to continue being part of the climate solution.”
A new initiative called ‘Australian Farms – Where REAL climate action happens’ is sharing farmer’s stories with the public.
Stuart Austin, manager of the Wilmot Cattle Company in northern NSW, said: “Through soil carbon sequestration, we’re taking more carbon out of the atmosphere than we are emitting each year, all the while producing nutrient dense beef,” Stuart said. “We are improving the ecological health of this farm.”
In the past three years, the Wilmot team has planted 25,000 trees across their property.
Picture: Bart Davidson from Maia Grazing and Wilmot Cattle Co general manager Stuart Austin.
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