Climate and Peace Blog.
Questions for Lucinda:
- Regenerative farming offers opportunities to increase biodiversity and carbon capture. What needs to happen for broad uptake of these practices?
There is a long answer to this question and hence my answer is incomplete.
Landcare has encouraged these practices for more than 30 years, especially biodiversity in the farming landscape. Like all of agriculture there is never a single way forward due to the variation in commodities produced, eg. Irrigated or dryland, perennial or annual crops, livestock either intensive or extensive, horticulture etc. . The practices available within a triple bottom line approach (economic, environmental and social) vary depending on the impact of the changing climate, geography, tropical or temperate production systems.
My own background in forming our landcare group at the end of the 1980s was pivotal in helping us understand natural cycles (water, carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus etc) and the interaction with farming practices. We look for evidence to keep refining what we do. While the label regenerative has attracted widespread interest the work of sustainable farming systems for some decades has assisted us to improve what we do. The overlay of climate change is accelerating the challenges at the biophysical level. The AGTECH revolution is the next stage of innovation which is assisting us to improve what we do, eg. Drones and robots for precision control of weeds.
The third part of such an answer is the answer about how farmers take in new information and change. There are some very interesting studies and many factors, age, scale, succession or final generation, gender, etc. Appetite for change is like the farming equivalent of ‘risk appetite’ in business.
- Has your group looked into farmers planting native grasses that are perennials instead of the annual crops like wheat etc that has resulted in a lot of our top soil being blown away?
Cropping zones and livestock zones are distinct in Australian agriculture. In our farm business we grow introduced and native perennials and do not grow annual cereals except grazing cereals which are a transformational innovation in the last 15 years. If you look at the data behind the minimum tillage revolution in Australia’s grains sector it is one of the most compelling success stories, about a 95% adoption rate.
- Has the Wheat product graph you showed taken account of the higher yield due to higher concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere?
Yes
- Can all the farmers be encouraged to plant trees? They have a bit of spare land and if volunteers can be encouraged to assist?
There have been many national tree planting programs and for many farmers it is a business as usual activity. The move towards new environmental stewardship capital markets and carbon markets will incentivise tree planting. It is a goal of the National Farmers Federation 2030 plan, to have 5% of gross farm income from stewardship contracts by 2030.
- Your slide on the decreasing income of farms and the increasing temperature/fire risk etc, brings together a challenge. With decreasing incomes, what can the normal farmer do to help climate economically?
This could be another long answer!
There is an accelerated change in farm business structures occurring, probably the third during my farming lifetime (a big one at the beginning of the 1970s and in the 1990s). the rural sociologist Neil Barr writes about these structural changes.
What we are seeing is called the ‘disappearing middle’. Small farms will survive if people have other incomes while at the other end farms are increasing in scale. Farming entities and generational family farms are increasing in scale to become more resilient. Hence there is no real ‘normal farmer’.
- Isn’t the aim to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 far too late? The urgency of action now is evident, not only in Australia, but across the Globe. How can we as citizens, Rotarians & communities push governments here and globally to act with urgency?
Yes, agree that the 2050 goals are too long.
All of us have a clear challenge to lead the debate, also by our actions at personal level, energy, transport etc. and thirdly by whom we choose to influence. Groups like One Million Jobs and others have done some fantastic work on changing energy especially and the potential for the regions.
- We hear from regional electors their frustration when local MPs are directed by the big city MPs on climate action, water management, etc What is the solution to ensure your locally elected reps properly represent their country constituents?
Politics is not my strong suite.
Ensuring grass roots education and feedback to their members is very important.
Finding good candidates who can speak up is as important. The truth is that many talented people do not consider a career in politics.
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