Australian farmers dealing with climate change

The 2012 Climate Change Research Strategy for Primary Industries (CCRSPI) Conference is being held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground from 27-29 November.

Australia’s farm leaders and researchers are meeting at the event to discuss practical adaptations and responses to a changing climate, including the viability of carbon farming, climate threats to winemakers, managing methane, sceptical farmers acting on climate change and more.

Presenting tomorrow’s international keynote speech, Jude Capper, an Associate Professor at Washington State University, will question the argument that vegetarianism is the only answer to climate change. She claims there are huge opportunities to cut emissions in livestock production by becoming more efficient. She presents the example of her home country, where the emissions involved in producing a unit of beef have dropped by 16% since 1977.

Dr Richard Eckard, from The University of Melbourne, will explore current research into finding ways for our livestock to produce less enteric methane - that is, the potent greenhouse gas they make as they digest food. There are several options which have been put forward, ranging from genes to methane capture, although Dr Eckard has conceded that the ‘silver bullet’ is still some decades away.

Lucinda Corrigan - a successful pastoralist and board member of Meat & Livestock Australia and several Cooperative Research Centres - will note the importance of getting farmers of board with emissions reduction and how this should be achieved. She says that for all the importance of science in driving forward our capacity to reduce emissions, farmers must be part of the solution.

Food analyst Steve Spencer will look at reducing emissions from decaying food, which means we need to cut food waste. He will reveal that we throw away more fruit and vegetables than we eat, with seafood being almost as bad. Furthermore, before food even reaches the supermarket, a lot of it is wasted as failed harvests, second-rate produce or just surplus stock. He has many ideas on how we can avoid waste and cut emissions.

NSW DPI researcher Kath Donoghue will reveal that methane production levels are partly due to hereditary factors, at least in cattle. Thus, producers could purchasing ‘low-emission’ bulls, which in turn can foster the breeding of herds of low-emission cattle. This would be kinder to the climate and possibly worth millions in carbon credits. Each 1% reduction in the greenhouse gases coming from Australia’s beef cattle could be worth over $8 million under the Carbon Farming Initiative.

These are just a few highlights from just one day of what is sure to be an interesting and important event.