Queensland beef producers Grant and Carly Burnham started down the carbon neutral pathway as a way of putting evidence to the production and environmental benefits they were witnessing on their property from their shift towards regenerative practices.
At the time - in 2016 - they figured if a carbon market did evolve, that would be an added bonus.
Today, they are the country's largest holder of soil carbon credits.
And they are taking very seriously the decision of what to do with Australian Carbon Credit Units, or ACCUs, that are over and above their own business' carbon neutral requirements.
"The potential of soil carbon is really exciting for agriculture but we have to be clever and mindful about what we do with our ACCUs as an industry," Mrs Burnham said.
"Ultimately, we want to continue to improve the environment with who we sell to. We want to be doing better for the world. We need to think carefully about how we can create the most impact."
The Burhams run 800 Brangus Senepol breeders at Bonnie Doone, near Monto in Central Queensland - a breeding, backgrounding and finishing operation that is certified organic.
They have their own beef brand, Bonnie Doone, with boxes sold online, while the rest of their turn-off goes to Australian Organic Meats for domestic and global markets.
Cattle are typically turned off at 520 kilograms by 2 to 2.5 years.
Their country is diverse: eucalypts on granite running to heavier soils with semi evergreen vine thicket and brigalow, plus areas of clay with bluegums.
Seven years ago they joined four other livestock farmers in a first-in-the-world soil carbon project run through farming advisor CarbonLink.
"We'd changed our philosophy to a more ecological way of grazing a long time before and we could see the improvements anecdotally with pasture, carrying capacity and observed soil improvement," Mrs Burham said.
"The CarbonLink project seemed like the right fit, a way to understand what our land is doing.
"There wasn't really a carbon market at the time. It was in an embryonic stage but we thought the productivity and environmental benefits, and putting numbers to those, was enough."
It meant taking on a number of new practices, which was a big investment of both time and money.
They subdivided extensively, going from 30 paddocks to 90, which meant shortening grazing periods and increasing the average rest time of pastures in their critical growing phase.
They installed an additional 40 water points, reducing the average distance to water from two kilometres down to 500 metres.
And they started using time-controlled grazing software to collect data in real-time of yield in the paddock and how much pasture the stock on hand would need.
"That means we can determine how long to leave stock in one paddock, using both gut feeling and data-driven strategy," Mrs Burnham said.
Against a backdrop of seasonal challenges - one of the worst droughts in their region in history - their auditing shows they have added 47,000 tonnes of soil organic carbon to the 5000 hectare project area. This equates to an additional 283,000 tonnes of water added to the capacity of the soil.
That has delivered 94,666 ACCUs from the national Clean Energy Regulator - the largest allocation for an individual soil carbon farming project in Australia to date.
At the same time, they have doubled their carrying capacity. That puts their emissions intensity at an incredible 50 kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent per kilogram of beef produced.
They are being courted regularly by big corporations around the globe chasing offsets.
"We will inset what we need to ensure our whole business is net zero year-in year-out and we can brand our beef carbon neutral," Mrs Burnham said.
"After that, we want to establish a meaningful partnership with a corporation doing good work to improve practices to reduce emissions, something linked to the food supply chain or rural Australia."
CarbonLink chairman Terry McCosker said the Burnhams' Bonnie Doone project created a new Australian benchmark for soil carbon farming and would provide a great incentive for other landowners committed to positive climate action.
"It is proof that landowners who are committed to a tangible improvement in soil health can generate a diversified income stream while contributing to a healthier planet," Dr McCosker said.
CarbonLink has acted as the developer responsible for more than 95 per cent of all soil carbon credits issued to date in Australia and is now investigating the feasibility of projects in all states.
- The Carbon Series was produced in collaboration with the Australian Science Media Centre with support from the META Public Interest Journalism Fund administered by the Walkley Foundation.
Shan Goodwin
Shan Goodwin steers ACM’s national coverage of the beef industry. Shan has worked as a journalist for 30 years, the majority of that with agricultural publications. She spent many years as The Land’s North Coast reporter and has visited beef properties and stations throughout the country and overseas. She treats all breeds equally. Contact 0427686187. E: s.goodwin@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Shan Goodwin steers ACM’s national coverage of the beef industry. Shan has worked as a journalist for 30 years, the majority of that with agricultural publications. She spent many years as The Land’s North Coast reporter and has visited beef properties and stations throughout the country and overseas. She treats all breeds equally. Contact 0427686187. E: s.goodwin@austcommunitymedia.com.au
