Farmers want promise that methane pledge won’t hurt ag in writing

THE federal government has assured the agriculture sector it would not be adversely affected by a global pledge to reduce the nation's methane emissions, but farmers want the promise in writing.

Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen confirmed Australia would sign the pledge to reduce methane emissions by 30 per cent by 2030, joining 120 other countries who had already agreed to the proposal put forward by US President Joe Biden.

Mr Bowen said the pledge does not require Australia to focus solely on agriculture, or reduce agricultural production or livestock numbers, nor would the government legislate or introduce taxes or levies to reduce livestock emissions.

NSW Farmers president Xavier Martin said Mr Bowen, along with the Prime Minister and Agriculture Minister, should sign a statement that farmers would not be left worse off under the Methane Pledge.

"We've been told that farmers will be excluded, but the same thing happened in New Zealand and now they're experiencing the disastrous impact of these international agreements," Mr Martin said.

"Australia cannot afford to put global appearances ahead of our ability to feed and clothe ourselves, and our government should make an iron-clad assurance - in writing - that agriculture will not be impacted by Joe Biden's methane pledge."

Agriculture Minister Murray Watt said the industry had already committed itself to carbon neutral meat production by 2030, and the government was catching up to the industry's ambitions.

"By signing the pledge, we are putting Australia's ag sector on a level playing field with our trade competitors.

"Increasingly our trading partners are wanting to do deals with countries that demonstrate a stronger commitment to sustainability."

Mr Watt said the global market was increasingly hungry for low-emission products and also announced $5 million in grants for projects researching methane-reducing feed supplements for livestock.

Cattle Council chief executive John McGoverne supported the pledge and said the industry's levies had already been heavily invested in feed additives, such as asparagopsis seaweed, that could cut emissions by more than 90pc.

"The Australian beef industry is already on track to reach net zero emissions without reducing livestock numbers," Mr McGoverne said.

Red Meat Advisory Council chief Alastair James said the industry had committed to being carbon neutral by 2030 and it was currently just shy of 59pc of the way there.

"Industry quite some time ago set itself its own target because sustainability of the red meat and livestock industry is key," he said.

"So we're very, very comfortable with the approach that the industry is taking in achieving that goal."

Source: Jamieson Murphy, Queensland Country Life, 24 October 2022

Biosecurity threats won’t wait for Labor’s ‘political agenda’

AGRICULTURAL leaders have urged Labor to deliver its biosecurity election promise, saying exotic diseases won't wait for the party to work through its political agenda.

But the Agriculture Minister has indicated the government was still considering how to rollout a long-term sustainable funding model to fund the nation's biosecurity system.

For years, the agriculture sector has been urging governments to commitment on-going funding to biosecurity, as the number of threats continue to grow.

National Farmers' Federation chief executive Tony Mahar said Labor already had "runs on the board" with its handling of the Indonesian foot and mouth disease, and the endorsement of the National Biosecurity Strategy.

"The timing is absolutely right for the government to demonstrate in this budget a long-term commitment," Mr Mahar said.

"Everything is in place. If they don't do it now, when is the perfect time?"

GrainGrowers chief executive David McKeon said historically it had been hard to get biosecurity on the agenda and it made sense to use "this opportunity to continue the momentum".

"The biosecurity threats facing ag are not going to sit around and wait a couple of years for the government to work through its agenda," Mr McKeon said.

The former government initially proposed an importer levy on all container freight to fund the nation's biosecurity system, but scrapped the idea after objections from importers, which were compounded by the economic impact of COVID-19.

The government then proposed a user-pay cost-recovery system, that would see importers pay in proportion to how much they use government-provided biosecurity services.

Nationals leader and former agriculture minister David Littleproud revealed one of the last orders he gave the department before the election was to finalise the consultation process, so the user-pay model could be implemented.

"I had approve in the budget process for the cost-recovery measure... I wasn't able to get in into the April budget, but it was approved for MYEFO [the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook]," Mr Littleproud said.

"A lot of that work had already been done, and there should have been nothing stopping the department from completing that. It's whether the new minister held the department to account to complete those instructions."

Agriculture Minister Murray Watt indicated the government was still consulting with stakeholders, and slammed the previous government for the botched the introduction of a biosecurity levy.

"They were more interested in the announcement than talking to industry... we will not make the same mistakes," Mr Watt said.

"We understand this is a complex matter that requires careful consideration and time to engage in meaningful conversations with stakeholders."

Mr Watt said biosecurity would remain a key focus of the upcoming budget, and the government was committed to delivering long-term sustainable funding to strengthen the biosecurity system.

Source: Jamieson Murphy, Farmonline National, 5 October 2022

Govt coughs up millions to stop cows farting and burping

THE government has handed out millions of dollars for trials to reduce cow farts and burps, with millions more on the way, in an important step towards its 2050 carbon neutral commitment.

Methane emissions from the nation's cattle herds account for about 10 per cent of Australia's total greenhouse gas emissions and more than 40pc of the agricultural sector's emissions.

The $4 million will fund six projects to assess the emissions reduction and productivity benefits of low-emissions livestock feed supplements, such as asparagopsis seaweed and the compound 3-NOP.

The funding is stage one of the federal government's Methane Emissions Reduction in Livestock (MERiL) program. The guidelines for the next two rounds of funding will be released on Monday, February 21, which will put another $20m towards the development of low emissions livestock feed technologies.

Emissions Reduction Minister Angus Taylor said each project would collect data to help support the research and development of new feed technologies and understand their impact on productivity and the environment.

"Australian farmers have always been at the forefront of innovation and environmental management," Mr Taylor said.

"These successful projects will increase our understanding of the benefits of these technologies and help farmers make informed decisions on technology adoption in their day-to-day operations.

"We are backing technologies which have the potential to reduce emissions while increasing productivity because we know that is the key to meeting and beating our targets without imposing new costs on households, businesses or the wider economy."

Four of the six projects will experiment with the seaweed asparagopsis, the cultivation of which could become a $1.5-billion sector within agriculture, due to its potential ability to reduce methane emissions in livestock while improving their productivity.

Bovine Dynamics was awarded $1 million to trial the use of asparagopsis in a large-scale commercial feedlot for Angus beef near Toowoomba, to understand its impacts on emissions and meat quality.

The University of New England was awarded $500,000 to trial the seaweed in sheep, while FutureFeed was awarded $500,000 to test the seaweed in beef cattle.

FutureFeed's initial trials have found just 50 grams of asparagopsis a day could reduce cattle methane emissions by 95pc, while also increasing cattle productivity by up to 20pc.

GrainCorp was granted $500,000 to lab test asparagopsis stability in livestock feed and on-field trials to determine methane emission reductions in livestock.

Other feed additives will also be trailed - CSIRO will use $800,000 to experiment with the organic compound 3-NOP in tropical and northern beef cattle grazing systems.

Agrimix was awarded $700,000 to trial the forage feed Desmanthus, a non-bloating tropical legume, in grazing paddocks in three commercial grazing operations across NSW and Queensland.

Stage two of the MERiL program will provide $5m to develop and determine the feasibility of the proposed technology with grants between $250,000 and $1m available for projects running up to 12 months.

Stage three, which will consist of two funding rounds, will provide $15m to undertake trials to validate the technology, and demonstrate its emissions reduction and productivity impacts.

Source: Jamieson Murphy, Farmonline National, 17 February 2022