Challenges and opportunities for agriculture's journey to net zero

By SHANNON BEATTIE

THE complex combination of risks, challenges, and opportunities facing the agricultural industry on its journey to net zero has been laid bare in a submission to the Federal government regarding its proposed Agriculture and Land Sector Plan.

Submitted by AgZero2030 chair Simon Wallwork on behalf of the organisation’s working group, the letter emphasised that while agriculture can be described as a science-based industry, the science of climate change alone will likely not be enough to motivate the necessary change in behaviour and practises.

“The need for collaboration through the supply chain and industry to respond to decarbonisation cannot be underestimated - this is not simply a matter of adopting innovative practices,” Mr Wallwork said. 

“There may also be a role for appropriately designed and targeted regulation to achieve some of the essential steps in measuring, reporting, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHGe) from agriculture.

The submission also highlighted that with competition for land use increasing, there is a risk agricultural land allocation will permanently switch to carbon and environmental offsets for other high polluting industries.

This will likely cause agriculture to lose the opportunity to allocate this land, mostly marginal or otherwise, to its own decarbonisation process demands or to provide environmental services.

Other risks and challenges detailed in the submission included climate and carbon literacy, emerging regulation around climate-related financial disclosure, dispute on the metrics of agricultural emissions, and expensive carbon market regulation.

“Reducing emissions alone is unlikely to allow agriculture to meet net emissions targets,” Mr Wallwork said. 

“The current processes around recognising carbon offsets within the agriculture industry are lengthy, expensive and complicated. 

“While Australia is recognised as having a high value regulatory system for registering and monitoring carbon sequestration, for internal agriculture offsets, insetting, more simplification and a lower cost system should be a priority.”

While there are no doubt countless challenges ahead, the submission also highlighted the exciting opportunities that await, including the chance for agriculture to accompany the necessary research and innovation with a lens on energy efficiency and emissions. 

Providing incentives for research and development institutions and grower groups to take this approach will be a positive step forward and AgZero2030 supported the government providing some form of incentive for farmers to adopt carbon accounting. 

It also suggested there was an opportunity for much more clarity around the opportunities for Australian agriculture to have market advantages around its agriculture emissions profile. 

“The industry and government have a role to play in exposing ‘sustainability based’ marketing opportunities to the supply chain, including farmers,” Mr Wallwork said. 

“Australian, and particularly, Western Australian agriculture has high efficiency of productivity on a world scale already. 

“Establishing our current international standing as an industry is a good baseline that will provide confidence and direction for the future trajectory of agriculture emissions reduction.”

Other opportunities discussed included collaboration through the supply chain for innovation and international learnings, strategic planning for land use, and synergistic productivity efficiency gains and emissions reductions.

• To read AgZero2030's submission in its entirety, click HERE.