Carbon | The Conscious Farmer

RUMINANTS – A methane pest or climate change solution?

25 November 2015 / 1 comments

Production systems involving ruminant animals have come under pressure from some sectors of the community concerned about climate change due to the production of methane (CH4, a greenhouse gas) by these animals. While methane has a much shorter life (12 years) in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, the reason it attracts so much negative publicity is that methane is calculated to have a 25 greater fold impact on climate change than carbon dioxide. Much of the atmospheric methane is oxidised to carbon dioxide and water, but with general emission levels increasing since the industrial era, (as with carbon dioxide), there is only so much certain systems can deal with. So should we therefore be worried about the impacts of the methane from our livestock on climate change? Continue reading “RUMINANTS – A methane pest or climate change solution?” »

SOIL BIOLOGY – build it and they will come or introduce them in?

20 October 2015 / 2 comments

I got some clarification recently on the question of making soil biology work for us. Do we take the ‘build it and they will come’ approach or do we actively introduce microbes to ‘enliven’ our soils? My gut feel says ‘build it and they will come’ – it just sits best with me. It’s mostly about practices, not inputs. But, let’s not discount microbial inputs either – there’s a place for all things. It must be considered too, that cropping and grazing may lend themselves in varying degrees to the two approaches.

I often write about soil biology, because I believe it is an area not given enough attention in farming in the last half century. There has been much research into the chemical and physical properties of soil, but only more recently has the biology been explored and our production systems are still catching up and working out how to make the biological research practical. Continue reading “SOIL BIOLOGY – build it and they will come or introduce them in?” »

HOW IS CLIMATE CHANGE AFFECTING AGRICULTURE?

21 August 2015 / 0 comments

We often hear about how changing climate will affect future generations – our children and grandchildren. This is very true, but we should also realise that it is already affecting us – especially as farmers. Agricultural production is highly influenced by weather, so our businesses are likely to be one of the first affected by climate change (as it affects our weather). Information coming from Australia’s CSIRO (the federal government agency for scientific research) supports this. I learnt this and more when I spoke with Mark Howden of CSIRO recently.

What we often think of regarding climate change is an increase in temperature, and this is true with regard to overall climate and long term average temperatures, but climate change also has other effects on climate. Changes in climate have resulted in more erratic weather events that can affect our agricultural production and increase risk of crop loss. Such erratic weather events place crops at risk of damage; think frosts, drought, hail, intense storms, increased winds etc. Continue reading “HOW IS CLIMATE CHANGE AFFECTING AGRICULTURE?” »

HOW MUCH GRASS TO REMOVE IN A GRAZE?

11 July 2015 / 0 comments

Planned grazing and allowing grasses to recover from grazing certainly works to restore pastures, improve ground cover, engage natural nutrient cycles and increase pasture growth. Lots of farmers around the world will attest to this. This doesn’t mean that it is easy to get it right though!

The following information draws on research from many years ago that a subscriber sent me a while ago, and the information is still so relevant. I believe it may be one factor in why not everyone gets the same outcomes from planned, rotational grazing. The information relates to what happens to the root system of a perennial grass plant when the top growth is grazed to different levels. This will obviously influence when we choose to move animals out of a paddock.

The trial included cool and warm season grasses of different growth patterns – rhizomes, stolons and bunch type growth. Grazing of these grasses was simulated by the manual cutting of their foliage. When half or more of the foliage of the grasses was removed, root growth was halted for a time after the removal (with the exception of one grass type). The time period for which the root growth was halted varied with the degree of the foliage removal. Foliage removal occurred in intervals of 10% – ranging from 10% to 90%. Continue reading “HOW MUCH GRASS TO REMOVE IN A GRAZE?” »

CAN FARMERS MAKE MONEY FROM CARBON TRADING?

29 June 2015 / 0 comments

What many of us really want to know about carbon trading is if farmers can make money from it. Recent times have seen more methodologies introduced that are more suited to our farming operations, but are they profitable enough to make the paperwork involved worthwhile? The short answer is – I’m not allowed to say!

An ACCU (Australian Carbon Credit Unit)- which is the tradeable carbon unit, is considered a ‘financial product’ and one must carry an Australian Financial Services (AFS) licence to advise on this. Whilst I have carried such a licence in the past – it is no longer current, so I would be breaking the law to infer, predict or advise any likely financial gain or loss from ACCU’s.

I can however, talk about how much carbon one might be likely to sequester into the soil and you can get your own advice on the financial relationship to this carbon. Continue reading “CAN FARMERS MAKE MONEY FROM CARBON TRADING?” »