McIvor Farm Foods at Tooborac produces pork and other meats of high quality, which owners Jason and Belinda Hagan attribute to their soil development practices. Photo: Energy Smart Farming
A small farm in Tooborac has been able to evolve its management practices by capitalising on a state government grant awarded last year to significantly reduce the carbon footprint of its meat production.
Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content
Jason and Belinda Hagan have built up McIvor Farm Foods over 10 years and underwent an energy assessment with the Victorian Government’s Agriculture Energy Investment Plan.
The assessment led to the awarding of an AEIP grant which the couple used to install solar panels on their property’s water pumps and above their recently built butchering facility to alleviate fuel-based electricity use.
Mrs Hagan said the couple had already been practising regenerative methods on their farm through developing their soil.
“We have put a hell of a lot of carbon into the ground and what we see from that is improvement in the quality of feed,” Mrs Hagan said.
“We are hoping to make our biggest carbon regeneration to be in our livestock management.”
The grants focused on providing renewable energy assistance and were awarded on a dollar-for-dollar basis.
The Hagan’s believe their half of the contribution has been well worth the investment.
“When you are a start-up business, you sometimes struggle to see the benefit of this type of investment but it’s a short-term cost for a long-term benefit,” Mrs Hagan said.
“We were burning quite a lot of petrol for the water pumps and although it was easier in the short term to continue doing that, the investment in the solar panels was better in the long term.
“We are still seeing that benefit to this day and we think that, yep, it’s worth it.
“I actually think the one-to-one grants are a good way to do it, instead of government handouts.”
Part of the new pumping system is the installation of a real-time monitoring system to inform the Hagans of dam water levels via a phone app, allowing for better selection of water sources and saving the farm from losing water through leaks.
Installation of solar panels above the butchery was made possible from the $23,500 grant.
The evolution of McIvor Farm Foods has seen the construction of a new butchering facility on the Hagan's farm, the cost of which was offset by the installation of solar panels. Photo: Andy Wilson
The success of the farm is due primarily to the work ethic of the couple.
“It’s not like the only time we invest is when we get a grant because we find that when we begin a project, we do complete it and we do it well.
“We are at the stage now of starting to do the figures on the carbon savings as we are heading to be carbon neutral.
