Setting a target to be carbon neutral by 2040 was the topic of a field day at Paraway Pastoral's Barraba district property Burindi Station on Wednesday, with more than 230 registrations received by organisers.
A quick straw poll by Paraway's chief executive officer, Harvey Gaynor, revealed that most of the audience were farmer producers as he outlined the organisation's processes to its 2040 zero-carbon plans.
Paraway Pastoral, part of the Macquarie Agricultural Funds Management Limited, a division of Macquarie Group Limited, currently runs 27 pastoral enterprises across Queensland, NSW, and Victoria, with the capacity to carry more than 220,000 cattle and 250,000 sheep.
Mr Gaynor said the organisation believed in using its experiences to reveal how it began its carbon journey, which could go further in helping the sector and the nation meet its climate targets.
"From our own experience, we know how daunting it can seem at the beginning and appreciate other farming businesses may be reluctant to start the journey, so we want to do something to assist whilst learning together," Mr Gaynor said.
"The Getting Started Field Day at Burindi Station, near Barraba, will help farmers get started down this net zero road and understand it is achievable and manageable, even if you don't have the resources of large businesses like Paraway.
"The day is aimed at demystifying getting started on the road to emissions management, and ultimately a net zero target. It's aligned with our business production outcomes, and most of the information we need to measure your emissions is relatively easy to collect.
"We all know we need to reduce emissions, and the first step is baselining to know what your emissions are and where they are coming from. The good news is that many farmers will already have the data, or at least some of the data they need, and a broad selection of tools are available to help progress this process.
"We wanted to use this on-farm field day to share with participants what we're doing about managing emissions by showcasing Burindi and some of the initiatives employed on the property."
The company has been working on emissions reduction programs for nearly seven years, with the net zero target becoming a priority in the past few years.
As part of the net zero strategies, Paraway is focused on ongoing efficiencies in its livestock production and reducing the use of fossil fuels in the business, using more renewable energy sources. The sequestration of carbon and pasture improvement are other priorities.
"We see this as an opportunity to run our business more efficiently and productively, so a net zero Paraway will be a more profitable business, with alternative revenue streams to drought-proof the properties," he said.
- See next week's edition of The Land for full coverage of the field day.
