Utilise Sustainability For Economic Advancement
It is fair to say that the concept of sustainability has been viewed by some in the agricultural community with a sense of hesitation and caution. The image it presents can often be one of producers being restricted from carrying out the normal operations of their farms, or as an overall threat to their business.
Australian agriculture has a long history of not only adopting sustainability practices, but also enhancing them – for the benefit of the industry and the wider environment. The Landcare movement of the 1980s saw many farmers adopt new practices in fencing off eroded areas on their properties and planting trees in salinity impacted areas. Not only did salinity levels fall and soil quality improve, but most farms saw productivity improvements in livestock and cropping.
Similarly, the utilisation of no-till cropping, where crops or pasture are grown without disturbing the soil through tillage, has grown strongly over the past 20 years. In 2000/01, the percentage of agricultural land farmed using no-till methods was 26 percent. By 2017, 79 percent of crop land and 70 percent of pastureland was not cultivated.
From the perspective of ensuring the health of the environment in which they operate – soil, water, biosystems – sustainability concepts will remain as important as ever to most Australian farmers.
Looking ahead to 2030, the issue of sustainability is set to take on greater degrees of importance and complexity for Australian agricultural producers.
From a regulatory perspective, various governments have been discussing new measures for a number of years. Water usage, land clearing and the adoption of farm plans are important topics. Discussions also continue around the possibility of production agriculture requiring carbon impact statements and metrics. Carbon regulations could potentially be driven not only by Australian governments, but also by trade agreements with carbon emission related tariffs.
More extensive sustainability and carbon metrics will be required by major international investors as well the global agricultural supply chain.
It is increasingly likely that major international investors, both Australian and global, as well as Australian agriculture’s global customer base, will require far more extensive sustainability and carbon metrics.
This changing landscape may drive producers to adapt their farming practices and operations to include new aspects of sustainability. In some cases, it may be necessary to change farming systems to remain a supplier into certain global markets.
Above all, the farming community and its stakeholders will need to continually educate themselves on this rapidly evolving subject. Agriculture has a huge role to play in the pursuit of a net-zero economy, and there are potentially many direct economic opportunities for the industry from new sustainability structures.
For some producers, the standout opportunity will come in the form of carbon farming and sequestration.
These new methodologies have the potential to give many producers the ability to capture carbon within the confines of their farms through a range of methods. They include increasing the number of trees grown on their property, reducing farm fire usage, or capturing carbon in soils through crop or pasture management.
To ensure the future of Australian agriculture, the industry needs to work toward the following steps:
Be proactive in the climate debate
The wider sector must ensure that it is proactive in the climate debate. To do this, it must highlight opportunities for it to play a positive role.
Highlight potential impact
The industry has an obligation to highlight the potential impact on its long-term future of any misguided actions.
Develop sustainable practices
The agricultural sector must continue to play a leading role in the development of sustainability practices, regulations, and metrics.
Provide opportunity to learn
The sector must ensure that producers have the best opportunity to learn the essentials of the science and agronomy and to be aware of the opportunities.
Educate outside the industry
The sector must continue to educate those outside the industry on the sustainability practices in the production of food and fibre.
A national agreement on water
The industry must move closer to arriving at a national agreement on water structures, including usage levels, cost, and allocation.
In turn, the volume of carbon captured through these practices, measured in carbon credits, could potentially be traded for financial return with an entity which may emit carbon emissions, thus allowing them to reduce their net overall emissions.
Given the scale of this carbon capture process, combined with the dearth of similar carbon capture opportunities, it could be argued that Australian agriculture provides a vital key for many companies of the high emissions corporate sector, not only in Australia, but globally. However, given the evolving process around this whole field, it will be important for Australia’s farmers to remain mindful that the credits generated by their own operations may potentially be required at some point to offset their own individual emissions profile.
A question which will increasingly arise will be around what is more valuable to a farmer – the carbon credit cashflow or the license to operate. In addition, a further question will be whether the industry will be able to reach a position of being a net positive carbon sink, which would allow it both to sell credits, while remaining carbon neutral. While this matter does create a range of business decisions which most farmers have never had to face, the renowned ability of Australian producers to overcome challenges and embrace new opportunities provides confidence that the industry will work productively on the issue over the course of this decade.
It is essential that the industry does not lose sight of the global imperative – safe, reliable, affordable food supply, reducing the rate of global warming and recognising the importance of biodiversity. The answer cannot be one at the expense of the other.
The Federal versus State government structure may make this difficult, but tough decisions need to be made. The ongoing uncertainty makes it difficult for farmers to plan, deters investors, and even leads to uncertainty for sought-after major environmental projects.
All of these need to be solved in the current decade.
