Incentives, extension, and trusted sources of information – that’s what Farmers for Climate Action CEO Natalie Collard believes is needed to help farmers reduce their carbon footprint.
The movement which began in 2015 with just 30 members has grown to more than 8,300 members, something that Ms Collard says demonstrates the sector’s desire to tackle the challenge.
“We want to be part of a sector that's reducing emission ourselves, but also calling on large polluting sectors to become more sustainable because agriculture is bearing the brunt of the cost and impact of climate change today,” she said.
“We’ve also got over 80,000 non-farmer supporters, mostly from regional Australia, that want to back farmers that are doing the right thing for all of our futures, it’s wonderful that they care that their food's created so sustainably and with such integrity.”
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Ms Collard will deliver the keynote presentation in the ‘Decarbonising Agriculture’ session at the Digital Agrifood Summit in Wagga Wagga from 29- 30 October. The Summit will bring together hundreds of producers, researchers and agtech developers to discuss the key challenges confronting agriculture and technology to help make the sector ‘Future-Fit’.
She points out that agriculture is already contributing to Australia’s green energy transition by hosting large-scale wind and solar developments.
“Agriculture hosts the majority of renewables in Australia today and it's a pathway that creates increased profitability for the farm and regional prosperity if we do it right, as well as saving the planet,” she said. “97 per cent of our farmer- members support renewable energy, something that might surprise you given the well-worn media commentary that farmers oppose wind and solar.”
Away from large-scale projects, Ms Collard pointed to the great potential for on-farm renewable energy to work in tandem with the electrification of equipment.
“Behind-the-meter renewables can actually reduce emissions on farm, which is really important for Scope 3 GHG emission reporting and market access,” she said. “But for a large energy user farm, one that's currently relying on generators, it can save up to $100,000 a year in energy bills.”
But she said to capitalise on this opportunity Australia needs a policy environment that gives farmers the confidence to invest plus government co-investment to support uptake and bring down technology prices.
“When I think about what's going to make the biggest difference in the shortest time-frame, I would say incentives towards adoption of new techniques and extension,” Ms Collard said.
“A lot of the technology and opportunities are out there and when we're engaging with the communities, we need to make sure we're debunking the myths and actually putting forward the reliable, trusted sources of information so farmers aren't wasting precious time and energy trying to source and fact-check the information that's coming their way.”
You can hear Natalie Collard in person at the Digital Agrifood Summit which will explore the push to tackle decarbonisation in agriculture and the innovation needed to get us there – think bio-energy, hydrogen to ammonia, on-farm energy supply chains and new tech to measure emissions.
In a frank case study presentation, Rewiring Aotearoa CEO and orchardist Mike Casey will share his experience in creating the ‘world's first fully electric farm’. Then settle in as we look at the picture across our sector with GrainGrowers advocacy and rural affairs manager Sean Cole, innovator and founder of Pecora Dairy Cressida Cains and Agscent business and research development manager Daniela Carnovale.
Don’t miss the chance to be part of this discussion, tickets on sale now.
