Farming carbon - it's here

So reads the headline on MATTHEW CAWOOD's article in the Land online. "Amid the wreckage of other greenhouse gas abatement plans, the Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI) has passed through Parliament and looks secure as any legislation can. With bipartisan support - the Coalition has said that should it gain power, it will make modifications to the scheme, but not throw it out - the CFI is a platform with the potential to deliver a new source of income to landholders," he writes.

"The real Hallelulja moment for those who believe farmers should be paid to restore the nation's soils to health will come when a methodology is approved for soil carbon," said Michael Kiely of Carbon Farmers of Australia. "That should be soon. Carbon Farmers of Australia is 'sponsoring' a soil carbon methodology which will be submitted in a matter of days. Then we will see if those scientists cautioning farmers not to expect to increase their soil carbon levels much are right or are they like the experts who predicted that Columbus would sail off the end of the Earth because it was flat. They could only say that because they hadn't been there."

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Michael & Louisa Kiely need to be congratulated on the wonderful lobbyng work they have done to help create an opportunity for farmers to be rewarded for sequestering carbon into their soils.

There are so many beneifts to the farmers themselves through better soils not to mention the planet saving benefits of the potential to draw down legacy CO2.

Posted by David Cusack, 7/09/2011 7:29:42 AM

Thanks David!Thank you, David. We thank the true believers who backed our campaign when it was considered disreputable to be promoting the rights of farmers to prosper in a carbon economy. For farmers looking for information they can rely on, the Carbon Farming Conference is on 28-29 September, 2011 in Dubbo - www.carbonfarmingconference.com.au. There is a half-day workshop for those needing to come up to speed beforehand. Our 6-year campaign has been mainly funded out of our savings and we rely on this event for support. This is the 5th annual conference. Thank you to all our supporters.

Posted by Michael Kiely, 7/09/2011 10:12:11 AM