Soil carbon project ‘common sense and practical’: Gippsland beef producer

With more than a decade of corporate banking experience with the country’s largest agri-lender, National Australia Bank, Annabel had developed an understanding first-hand of the evolving focus on natural capital in the finance industry. She sought to understand how this could work at the family farm level.

“Part of the influence to do a carbon project on Nambrok came from my time in the banking system where I could see a trend emerging towards ‘natural capital’ investment,” Annabel said.

“Increasing regulations in Europe coupled with Australia’s commitment to reducing carbon emissions led me to believe that we would see consumer demands change to wanting ‘lower carbon’ beef.

“I started researching what was required w to set up a soil carbon project and realised that a lot of the practices in the soil carbon methodology were things we already did.”

Nambrok is located in the Gippsland region of Victoria and runs an Angus breeding herd of approximately 750 head. The property integrates with Annabel’s existing family properties in the region. 

Annabel started researching what was required to set up a carbon project several years ago. This entailed things such as fertiliser applications, tree planting, rotational grazing, pasture improvements, all known as ‘Eligible Activities’ under the Australian Government’s Soil Carbon Methodology established by the Clean Energy Regulator. 

“The surprising part of registering the project was that  a lot of the practices were everyday things we were already doing on a relatively under-developed property which had room for improvement,” Annabel said.

“The challenging part was finding a ‘new’ practice — something we hadn’t already done in the past five years. This was where Precision Pastures really helped us to identify a practice that would not only be eligible, but that would also lead to improvements on-farm.  

Nambrok will play host to a Soil Carbon Workshop event held in the woolshed on Friday October 18, open to producers and service providers in the area seeking to understand more about opportunities in soil carbon.

Annabel said people coming along to the workshop would be able to learn about what qualifies for a soil carbon project.

“Anyone who comes along will probably realise the qualifying activities are things they are already doing and how a soil carbon project will most likely help improve their pasture and livestock outcomes,” she said. 

Precision Pastures CEO Hamish Webb said he and the team were delighted to be co-hosting the workshop on Nambrok to help shed further light on the opportunities that exist for producers in the soil carbon industry.

“We are encouraging anyone interested in learning more about how a soil carbon project can integrate and underpin existing production objectives in livestock production,” Hamish said.