Each day, farmer Roger Sendall considers what impact his decisions will have on the environment.
This ranges from minimising chemical use to determining where stock can graze on his 6,500-hectare operation in northwestern New South Wales (NSW).
“It would be better if I didn’t have to spray but that’s the sacrifice I make to keep my production system profitable,” Sendall said.
The sheep and crop farmer, who also utilises carbon farming practices, says this has made his land more drought resilient.
When the harsh drought years of the last decade struck, Sandall cut stock numbers on his property before the long dry took full effect.
“Drought was not a concern for me once I sold those sheep,” the Burren Junction farmer added.
“We made choices that allowed us to get through the drought much easier ... It was about making choices, about preserving our natural capital.”
Carbon farming involves changing farming practices or land use to raise the amount of carbon stored in the soil and vegetation (or sequestration) or cutting greenhouse gas emissions from livestock, soil or vegetation.
The carbon farming techniques the NSW producer has mastered over the past decade have left him environmentally and emotionally better off in drought years.
“You can’t put a value on natural capital at your farm ... how healthy it is,” Sendall told AAP.
“It’s just good agricultural sense to build your carbon, your natural capital in the soil ... I work very hard at increasing organic matter and conserving carbon.”
Now new research has highlighted how producers using carbon farming principles are becoming more drought resilient.
“Regenerative agriculture and carbon farming makes you more drought resilient, definitely,” Sendall said.
It was the millennium drought that first pushed Sendall to act.
“The 2001-02 drought, we fed sheep and it was an absolute disaster,” Sendall said.
“We spent a lot of money, and nearly went broke.”
The national survey carried out by Charles Sturt University (CSU) found that three-quarters of farmers interviewed reported carbon farming made them better prepared for drought, while also giving them an extra revenue stream.
Of the more than 120 Australian farmers who were interviewed, 80 were already engaged in carbon farming or carbon farming activities from soil carbon to regeneration and plantings.
CSU researcher Emily Webster, who led the project, says the survey shows carbon farming is helping producers and the environment.
“They saw faster regrowth of their grass and better biodiversity on their farm once those dry seasons did end and it started to rain,” Webster said.
“There is some evidence that carbon farming does improve drought preparedness and drought resilience activities.”
It’s also an extra revenue stream, with the changes in land practice enabling farmers to earn income from Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs), although this does come at a cost.
Projects in the rangelands can include anything from 5,000 to over 2,000,000 hectares, with tree carbon sequestration potential ranging from under one tonne per hectare to up to five tonnes per hectare a year.
Projects in higher rainfall regions are typically smaller in size.
“Some of them said that they could destock a bit quicker because they knew they had that revenue coming in, and they'd be able to restock again in the future a bit more easily,” Webster said.
Carbon farming provider Climate Friendly commissioned the research.
Climate Friendly’s Zoe Ryan noted the survey followed warnings from the Bureau of Meteorology of a 70 percent likelihood of a 2023 El Nino weather event, with a likely return to drier conditions in eastern Australia.
“As the Australian agricultural sector is contemplating another El Nino event, the results of this survey are very timely,” Ryan said.
This week Australia’s green bank the Clean Energy Finance Corporation announced it will invest $50 million (US$33 million) in Wilga Farming, an agriculture investment vehicle for sustainable farming and carbon sequestration.
Agriculture is responsible for more than 15 percent of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions.
