The report was completed by Ernest & Young and received praise within the industry for helping put facts in farmers’ hands.
Ernest & Young partner Elizabeth Rose said the report outlined a pragmatic, achievable pathway to a low emissions future by prioritising methane reductions, reforestation and carbon sequestration.
“We absolutely acknowledge farmers will need to keep producing greenhouse gases as they go about creating food and fibre, but there are ways to offset,” Ms Rose said.
“Net zero is reached when there is a balance between emissions produced and emissions reduced.”
The four ways the report modelled emissions being reduced are: methane reduction in livestock and waste (15 per cent), switching to electric farm vehicles (two per cent), improved land management (43 per cent) and land use change (40 per cent).
National Farmers’ Federation president Fiona Simson said she liked a lot of things about the report, but wished there was more information on what ‘land use changes’ looked like.
“When we talk about reforesting marginal land — what are we really talking about here? It’s not like we’re going to be growing great Tasmania oaks,” Ms Simson said.
“Using these big terms, farmers get worried it means we want to stop them from managing their own land and producing food and fibre, but that’s not the case.”
Ms Simson said the report wasn’t a breakthrough, but it was great at helping “flesh it (net zero) out for farmers wondering what it’s all about”.
“This is a high stakes game for farmers, we are at the forefront of climate change,” she said.
Victorian Nationals leader and State Member for Murray Plains Peter Walsh said people should see emission reductions as an opportunity, not a challenge.
“Too often people get caught up in the weeds rather than looking at the big picture,” Mr Walsh said.
“We don’t want to be the first generation in centuries to be worse off than those before us.”
Mr Walsh said shelters belts were a good example of something that, rather than locking up land and making farming more difficult, ended up increasing productivity.
“We shouldn’t be talking about these initiatives as climate action reform, it’s really about productivity and soil health,” he said.
“I give farmers more credit than some people do — give them the tools and the framework and let them do what they do best.”
Ms Rose said there was real need for “coordinated action” from the Federal Government on this issue.
“There is opportunity here for farming families to generate significant additional income through things like carbon credits and deliberately changing the flora their farms host to create a ‘carbon sink’,” she said.
Ms Simson agreed more needed to be done at a national level.
“We are just one of several groups saying the Federal Government needs to set a target,” she said.
“We have states and industries setting their own targets — now if that was done in a robust national framework, it would help farmers more.”
Mr Walsh agreed with the sentiment.
“The Victorian Nationals are very separate to our federal counterparts, particularly on this issue (net zero targets),” he said.
“Farmers and enterprises are making decisions worth millions and billions with no clear framework to guide them.”
The report titled How can Australia’s agriculture sector realise opportunity in a low emissions future? can be accessed on the Farmers For Climate Action website.
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