MLA and partners seeking answers to red meat carbon neutrality

Partnership co-ordinator, University of Tasmania Associate Professor Matt Harrison says MLA has joined with the CSIRO, private industry, governments and tertiary institutions to run the five-year program.

"The partners run their respective research programs, my responsibility is to co-ordinate the whole lot," Assoc Prof Harrison said.

The program would run 20-30 projects in the next five years.

"The real message we want to get out there is profit and sustainability are not mutually exclusive," Assoc Prof Harrison said.

"You can reduce emissions and be profitable in a sustainable way.

"One of the messages from our past work is that improved sustainability and production efficiency is usually synonymous with reduced emissions intensity, which is a good thing."

Improving sustainability through more ground cover and improved soil carbon levels meant a reduction in emissions intensity.

"Anything you can do to speed up the growth of the animal, particularly young stock so they hit their mature live weight sooner, reduces emissions intensity."

Assoc Prof Harrison said the red meat industry had reduced emissions more than any other sector since 2005.

"In 2005 it was 120 million tonnes of CO2 equivalents a year, last year it was 53 million tonnes," he said.

"It's gone right down, mainly due to changes in land use.

"We can make a significant, concerted effort in that direction."

Many proactive farmers were already calculating their carbon emissions, as well as avenues for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, while maintaining productivity.

Assoc Prof Harrison said a significant focus would be on environmental stewardship.

"If you plant trees, you reduce carbon, but carbon is not worth a lot, at the moment," Assoc Prof Harrison said.

"What's the co-benefit, and how does that translate into profitability?

"Planting trees means reduced heat stress; if it's a dairy farm you obviously get more milk production, if it's a cattle or sheep property, potentially you get less mortality and greater growth of young animals."

He said the program would also look at the value of natural capital on farms, which covered biodiversity.

"How do you quantify it? What is the economic and social value of that natural capital, on-farm?

Along with the CSIRO and UTas, QUT, private partners such as Agrimix Pastures, Integrity Ag, the NSW DPI, University of Melbourne and SARDI were among the project partners.

Assoc Prof Harrison said he would be working closely with the MLA's Emissions Avoidance Partnership, looking at feed and genetics.

"We need a multipronged attack, one project that works in one location won't neccesarily work in another."

He said a significant focus would be on barriers to the adoption of carbon storage systems.

"We might have all the technology in the world, but what are the social barriers to adoption?" he said.

"Planting trees is just a cost to the farmer; if he or she doesn't get any change in livestock productivity, it's just an extra lot of work and more cost, so they don't get anything.

"The environment and the general public benefits, because you have fewer emissions in the atmosphere, so there is climate change

"The whole of Australia benefits but the farmer has to make money, it's his or her business."

"At the end of the day they have to make money sustainably, if it's not sustainable or not profitable or it costs money, they won't do it, even it is for a global benefit."