A passion to plant more legumes, with the intention of improving soils to make better farms has led Ben Sawley down a rabbit hole rife with high tech sensors and algorithms.
As CEO of Agrimix, a seed company at its heart, he has authorised his own company's funding of research to better model how best to manage pasture and cropping for soil carbon production.
In conjunction with Queensland University of Technology and Packhorse Pastoral on Queensland's western downs, with additional funding from Meat and Livestock Australia, the first phase of the project involves the use of an old technology reinvigorated for an emerging regenerative science.
Rather than test soil samples for carbon, and wait for years to measure change, flux tower technology measures carbon dioxide - the breath of plants - in real time.
Data taken from laser light, 20 samples a second, plus wind direction and strength are factored into an algorithm that will tell carbon market investors whether a 100 hectare block is drawing down carbon dioxide, or releasing it.
Half hour updates, originally used in irrigation to measure water use right down to stomatal closure at the leaf surface of the plant, are at the core of the process modelling trial.
Mr Sawley says plants breathe in and out depending on the time of day and season and once those short-term cycles are measured and understood the model can begin to show what farming practices deliver more biomass and through that soil carbon - and more resilient farms - in real time.
During La Nina plants grow more and there is a correspondingly big draw down of carbon dioxide. During drought the lack of plant inputs mean decomposing microbes lose their carbon to the atmosphere.
"What we can say is that it is critical to manage ground cover," says Mr Sawley.
While flux towers offer great insight, they come at a big cost - about $90,000 a pop and measure just 100ha. But the aim of the project is to use soil carbon models to interpolate between towers, to compare like with like soils and micro-environments using satellite imagery to build a map.
"We intend to use these towers to calibrate our model; in a sense creating a digital twin of a property," Mr Sawley said.
Sensible practice like incorporating pasture legumes into the grazing scenario have long been known to increase nitrogen which boosts plant growth which in turn sequesters organic matter. Now, with the use of data from flux towers, this practice can be proven to be doing good in real time, rather than over the space of many years.
"The technology is actually decades old," says Mr Sawley, pointing out its use in Amazon forest research looking at carbon flows. Now agriculture is reaching out to make use of the relevant technology.
"Predicting carbon drawdown through biomass involves many variables and we need a tool to integrate them and give us an accurate soil carbon model that we can scale up to as large as we want, always using the flux towers to fine tune.
Mr Sawley believes the knowledge will eventually become available to farmers through a pay per hectare service.
Associate professor David Rowlings, who is running the trial through Queensland University of Technology, said the contribution started with two flux towers funded through the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network, or Tern, joining about 1000 world wide, with data shared between researchers.
QUT began research using flux tower technology a decade ago using one at the old QDAFF research station at Longreach - currently up for sale - and the other at Samford.
"It's our job to make sure the model works well," Dr Rowlings said.
"This technology was developed as a research tool but we are now working on using it for industry. It is very good at qualifying data and in one season we can see results without having to wait five years for another soil sample test."
This technology was developed as a research tool but we are now working on using it for industry.
- David Rowlings
Dr Rowlings said Australia lagged well behind in this space and with an MLA deadline of 2030 to reach carbon neutrality in the beef industry it needs to "hit it with everything we've got."
"However, carbon is complex and while we know there are short term gains we need to continue the push to bring further opportunities, through atmospheric carbon draw down," he said.
Meanwhile there is data to say the beef industry has become more carbon efficient by turning off animals in a shorter time with yearlings going on feed preferable in terms of carbon calculation.
He says feedlot efficiency means it is preferable to finish beef on feed in northern Australia when trying to reach carbon neutrality.
Beyond measuring pasture carbon fluxes the QUT team wants to look at capturing bio-acoustic data, to sense the level of biodiversity - again an old tool now surfacing as a relevant technology. For instance, NSW DPI used the same tech to search for male koala bears after the bush fires. Inside the farm gate, any evidence of increasing biodiversity is not only good for the environment, but also able to attract outside investment that secures those good practices for the future.
So confident are these researchers that modern grazing practices will make a difference to the climate, that they are planning to show the public through a new long term program utilising a not-for-profit property in the Brisbane Valley, to demonstrate how beef can co-exist with conservation.