Jan Clawson, ASHEEP & BEEF
On the 21st of March 16 farmers came together for the second workshop of the Carbon Neutral 2030 – Getting Started on Farm project. This is a Meat & Livestock Australia funded Producer Demonstration Site project that will run for four years ending in 2027. The morning session was for producers interested in learning more about carbon emissions and how to complete a carbon calculator on their own farm.
In the afternoon the producers that have been with the project from the beginning (“core producers”) came together. Richard Brake, the consultant for the project, worked through their completed calculators. With some having completed two calculators we were able to compare the differences and see if there were any changes.
While there is much discussion nationally and globally on carbon emissions and how they might be reduced it was great to spend the day focused on individual farms and farm businesses. Learning that production efficiencies are still the most effective way of managing emission intensity.
Emission intensity is the net emissions divided by the amount of product produced. So, if you can produce more kilograms of product with the same or less emissions your emission intensity will be less. Emission intensity allow us to compare farms of different sizes and enterprise mix.
We also saw that when comparing the Expected value for emission intensity from the MLA Carbon Calculator Technical Manual, all core producer businesses are within the expected range, and most are at the lower end of the scale.
Expected values for emission intensity excluding sequestration
If you would like to know more about carbon emissions and completing a carbon calculator, as part of this project, we have developed a Starting your CN30 journey on-farm toolkit. It has easy to read carbon emissions download and complete the calculator. The toolkit is available from the ASHEEP & BEEF website or by contacting Jan on the number below.
We will run another CN30 Workshop in March 2025. Expression of interest in this project and the workshops are always welcome.
