Australia world leader in Green farming: farmers lobby group

Australia’s farmers will lead the world in restoring farmland soils and waterways to health if the Gillard Government’s $46m Carbon Farming Initiative succeeds, says the Carbon Coalition, a grassroots farmers’ Climate Change lobby group.

“Australian farmers already lead the world in developing innovative ways to farm sustainably. This proposed agricultural soil carbon trading system will provide the incentive required to convert the majority of landholders to new ways of land management that extract CO2 from the air and use it to enrich the soil,” say Carbon Coalition convenor Michael Kiely.

“If all the farmers of the world join the soil carbon movement, we can slow Global Warming down for long enough to let alternative energy generation reach critical mass, according to world soil carbon experts.”

The world’s farmers manage more than 5 billion hectares of agricultural land. Even the tiniest amount of carbon absorbed into soil would amount to a significant shift in airborne CO2.

The Carbon Coalition praises Minister For Agriculture Tony Burke, but also acknowledges former Leader of the Opposition Malcolm Turnbull who first put soil carbon on the political agenda.

The Carbon Coalition – through its not-for-profit operational arm Carbon Farmers of Australia - has been educating farmers about soil carbon since 2006. It stages the annual Carbon Farming Conference & Expo – to be held this year in Dubbo on 27-28 October – at which leading Carbon Farmers and Soil Carbon Scientists share their insights. It also published The Carbon Farming Handbook, the only book of its kind in the world. And it conducts one- and two-day workshops called Soil Carbon 101: From Soils To Sales. Carbon Farmers of Australia is the only training organization with credentials in the field of soil carbon trading.