Queensland is responsible for 90% of Australia’s total land sector emissions. Avoiding further land clearing is essential but it is only one component, we also need to encourage reforestation.

What is carbon farming?

Carbon farming is a way for landholders to generate another income from their land and also make improvements to their ‘natural capital’. You can derive an income either by avoiding carbon emissions or by sequestering emissions, which means drawing carbon down and storing it.

Landholders can reduce carbon emissions through practices such as reducing methane from livestock, reducing fertiliser emissions, manure management and savannah fire management or sequester carbon through reforestation as an example.

Carbon farming methods

There are several different methods that have been developed for carbon farming including:

• Beef – herd improvement, feeding nitrates
• Soil carbon
• Irrigated cotton
• Dairy – destruction of methane, dietary additives
• Vegetation – reforestation, revegetation, protecting native forests
• Blue carbon
• Savannah fire management

Cassowary Credits 

Terrain NRM is developing a new biodiversity credit scheme that is designed to be stacked on top of carbon credits to make it more viable for landholders in the Wet Tropics to derive an income from reforestation.

Carbon farming, composting and cover cropping… Here are three soil health events which are being delivered or supported by Terrain NRM in March and April: