AS calls grow for Australia's agriculture sector to be Net-Zero by 2050, many producers are scrambling to explore their possibilities.
Renewable energy, rotational grazing and bio-fuels are among the most common ideas as well as increasingly popular carbon projects.
Among the many operators across the state taking the plunge on a carbon farming project are Armidale producers Lock and Liz Rogers, who have incorporated the growing industry into their pre-existing cattle business.
Running several hundred head of Angus and Wagyu breeders, the Rogers had previously incorporated improved pasture strategies as well as rotational grazing into their management plans and have now registered for a carbon farming project, having completed core testing through a carbon farming agronomy service.
"I initially went to a field day held by University of New England's Smart Region Incubator and saw the idea first hand, but we have always been pretty interested in this sort of thing," Liz Rogers said.
"The biggest catalyst for us was that we changed the grazing management of our first farm and we noticed an uptick of about 30 per cent of carrying capacity just by rotational grazing and changing the species of the grass.
"We just bought two new places and it seemed to make economical sense for us if that we were going to be doing that kind of management anyway.
"Why not enroll in a soil carbon project and potentially get an uptick in production as well as eventually sell carbon credits."
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Mr Rogers said many of his peers were looking to break into the sector and it was possible for smaller, family-sized outfits to participate in carbon projects.
"A lot of people want to get into it but are hesitant because they feel like they might have to make a whole heap of management changes," he said.
"However, you only have to make one change to qualify and when we wanted to get into it, we were already going to make changes like rotational grazing anyway, so it wasn't too different than what we were already planning to do..
"From there, we reached out to Precision Pastures to come and give us a carbon starter report to see if we had the potential for a project."
Precision Pastures founder Milton Curkpatrick said his company was focused on helping producers take the first step towards participating in a carbon project.
"We do focus on quintessential Australian family farm," Mr Curkpatrick said.
"Not all soil types are suitable for carbon projects, but you may never know if you don't get it tested so a carbon starter report is the perfect place to start."
Mr Curkpatrick said carbon projects could make up part of any producers overall operation, but worked best alongside other management measures.
"People may have some trepidations about their ability to get involved in a carbon project, but anything as small as 300 hectares can be considered," he said.
"What's important to remember is that these kinds of projects can fit into most operations as an overall approach to achieving the Net-Zero goal, but it is not a one-size fits all approach.
"It has to work hand-in-hand with things like renewable energy, soil management and pasture management because all of those measures working together will make the real difference."
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