Many people are interested in the role of the Aggregator in the Australian farm offsets market. The role is strategic because Aggregators form the interface between supply and demand. There is no doubt that the role is important, despite the fact that the Legislation does not mention it, placing the responsibility for the supply side management on the shoulders of the “Project Proponent”, ie. the Grower. Most Growers can’t assemble enough tonnage to deal cost effectively with the market direct. But even a corporate landholder with sufficient land too deal direct will need specialist advice. The average landholder will have to deal through an aggregation service. Organisations with memberships have access to potential growers/suppliers and bureaucracies which can supply the necessary arms and legs. 

Banks may see synergies, especially since the legislation defines the offset unit as a financial product and therefore those giving advice or dealing in them must have a Financial Services Certification. To give advice tat maximises the Growers opportunity, the aggregator must understand how to draw up a Carbon Farm Plan that integrates practices and boosts emissions reductions and amounts stored in soils. 

There are five options facing Growers: 
1. Deal Direct with a big polluter.
2. Engage an aggregator as an agent.
3. Sell the rights to your units to an aggregator or agent.
4. Join an aggregation as a member.
5. Sell direct to the farm gate market. 

Aggregators will need to have sound knowledge of the five pieces of legislation that established the Carbon Farming Initiative. They will need a sophisticated data management system, an education function, an outreach program, and connections with local services such as measurement and auditing. At the same time, they will need to engineer costs out of their services to keep middleman costs down and prices competitive.

Aggregator Briefing: An Introduction to Carbon Farming – A One Day Workshop. Delivered by Carbon Farmers of Australia. FarmReady Approved. Call 02 6374 0329

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Australian farmers stand to gain new income streams from a range of carbon offsets, after a long campaign by the Carbon Coalition. The Government’s Carbon Farming legislation could see farmers paid for managing soils, vegetation, fertiliser, pasture and manure. We need an industry association now because:

• Lobbying is critical now to make sure the law protects carbon farmers.
• We need resources to continue to push for the opportunities in carbon credits.
• Farmers need a truly independent source of advice – by farmers, for farmers.

 The Carbon Farming & Trading Association offers the following benefits for members: 

• Lobbying for members’ access to carbon markets through a range of offsets, including soil carbon, methane, nitrogen emissions and others. Infomation on contracts, risks and likely returns. 
• Education and training to maximise the business opportunities and assist in risk management in trading. 
• Quarterly magazine – The Carbon Farmer – The Journal of Natural Farming.
• Regular newsletter – Carbon Farming News – to alert members to opportunities. 
• Ethical trading services – Soil Carbon Baselining, Aggregation, Sub-Aggregation of Small Holdings and Brokerage, with fees invested in Association services.

Please contact us for information on how to join.

The first methodology for soil carbon sequestration under the Carbon Farming Initiative was submitted at the Carbon Farming Conference on the 6th Anniversary of the start of the campaign by the Carbon Coalition for soil carbon credits.

The Methodology – developed by the Bridge Consortium (Carbon Farmers of Australia, Offset Generation Services and Object Consulting) – operates entirely within the CFI Legislation and is designed to circumvent the oft-quoted ‘uncertainties’ of soil carbon by using buffer pools and menus. For instance, Additionality is addressed by offering a program for renewal of vegetation in line with the Positive List and requiring participants to choose two or more additional practices or products from a long menu. 

The variety of combinations satisfies the ‘common practice test’ in most cases. The Measurement challenge is answered by reducing the uncertainty around direct sampling using a 90% certainty interval and by extending the Government’s own 5% ‘risk of reversal’ buffer into a Project Buffer which requires the participant to “bank” a tonne of CO2 for each tonne they trade during the first 5 year period. Thereafter both carbon buyer and grower are protected by the collective Program Buffer Pool that aggregates risk management and balances impacts across climate zones. This reduces the grower’s exposure while increasing buyer protection. 

Relinquishment provisions follow the CFI Legislation with the additional benefit that a Program Buffer Manager may accept a relinquishment responsibility entirely on behalf of a grower.  This allows the added security of protection for all concerned coming from a balanced pool of projects rather than from a single farmer or piece of land only.  Buffering and averaging of measured values over time are also included to solve the Permanence issue. An elegant solution.

“Without your efforts Australia would have no Carbon Farming Initiative and no network of amazing farmers. In no small way you will leave a legacy of nationwide land regeneration at precisely the time we, and the rest of the world, needs it. “ - John W Crawford, Judith and David Coffey Chair in Sustainable Agriculture, Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, University of Sydney

The reason why we have racked up private debts of more than $500k campaigning for the last 6 years “to see the day soil carbon is traded safely and farmers paid fairly for what they sequester’’ is simply this: the prospect of a financial return from carbon farming will be enough to capture the attention of the great majority of farmers - who currently are not available to the sustainability message - for long enough for them to consider land management practice change. If they decide against it at least they have given it a fair hearing (and prepared themselves for the inevitable conversion somewhere down the line). We are promoters of trade for three reasons; 1. we believe only rapid and widespread soil sequestration has the capacity to stall global warming long enough for the global community to transition to a low carbon energy system; 2. we have a soils crisis that must be addressed for food security reasons; and 3. the profit motive is more influential and widespread in its application and rapid in its effect in changing behaviour than education and encouragement, ie. business as usual. 

We live by the principle that, if you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you always got. The single-minded focus on soil carbon as a key performance indicator simplifies the communications and behaviour change tasks because the co-benefits inevitably follow on attempts to raise soil carbon levels (co-benefits include improved soil structure, ground cover, water efficiency, nutrient availability, buffering against drought, and biodiversity above and below the ground). Once the average farmer gets over their negativity about soil carbon and trading (the result of the relentless misinformation campaign by those who fear being made redundant by the privatisation of soil health management when the opposite will be the effect) CMAs and Landcare groups will have their work cut out for them handling the rate of enquiries. As for middlemen, every commodity market has them, they are essential, and farmers can select which program they go with. Ie. it will be competitive. As for merchant bankers making money, that can only occur if the units are on-traded by the buyer. Farmers can choose to sell only to buyers who will 'retire' them, thereby removing them from circulation. If merchant bankers are making money, it is a sign that the market is flourishing and farm landscapes are being restored at a rapid rate. 

It will not be a gold rush, as some predict. It will take at least 5 years to develop and bed down the processes required to protect the farmers' interests. That is where Carbon Farmers of Australia fits in: Advocacy, Representation, and Ethical Aggregation.

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Photosynthesis – the process that creates soil carbon – could be taking up almost 50% more CO2 than previously estimated, according to a report in Nature, the British scientific journal. An international team of scientists have reset the bar for CO2 draw down from 120 billion tonnes per year to between 150-175 billion tonne annually… between 25% and 45% increase. This would logically mean the world’s soils have even greater capacity to store carbon. But even though they have no evidence to support the contention, the researchers declare there is no increase in soil carbon sequestration. 

The report's lead researcher Lisa Welp, from the University of California's Scripps Institute of Oceanography, said: “The extra CO2 taken up as photosynthesis is most likely returned right back to the atmosphere via respiration.” The leader of the CSIRO Changing Atmosphere research group, Paul Fraser, said “it doesn't mean they hold more carbon, they (plants) probably respire faster.” “Probably?” “Most likely?” Is this based on evidence? “I'd love to be able to say it does mean that but we just don't know that, that's in the next few steps (of research),” said Dr Fraser. 

There are two possible reactions to the higher rates of photosynthesis. One is to dismiss the possibility that it means good news for those of us who believe soils have the capacity to be a secure bridge to a low carbon future. The other is to accept these findings as further proof that there is a new paradigm that suits the times. Opposition spokesman on climate action, Greg Hunt, is among the latter when he says: “ the scientific evidence has moved more strongly in favour of the enormous potential of land and agriculture-based emissions reductions.” Which do you choose: the past or the future?

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From Western Magazine:

When the first Carbon Farming conference was held five years ago, it was just a dream. Five years on and the carbon farming intiative (CFI) legislation dominated the topics at this year’s conference. Convenor Louisa Kiely, who is the director of Carbon Farmers Australia and a Goolma district farmer, said the change was amazing. “We have been able to start moving away from theory towards rewarding practice,” Mrs Kiely said. “When we started five years ago this was just a dream- can soil carbon ever be a mainstream mitigation strategy? This is a turning point- by this time next year trading will be a reality.” Mrs Kiely said the change in attitude to carbon farming was evident with some of this year’s delegates. She said there was quite a bit of interest from new exhibitors and sponsors, while farmer delegates included a mix of innovators as well as those who were finding out more. 

Speakers at the conference included federal senator Matt Thistlewaite who said the CFI would give a lot of opportunities. “By 2020 the credits created by this initiative could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars for rural and regional Australia,” he said. Senator Thistlewaite said the scheme would provide economic value for those who adopt best practice. “The aim of the scheme is not only to recognise and encourage practices existing and taking place but also to encourage further uptake in those who aren’t currently doing those practices,” he said. 

For farmer Jeremy Bradley, who has a property on the north coast of NSW, this scheme has the benefit of providing financial incentives to farmers to change to carbon friendly practices. “Carbon is the driver of soil fertility,” he said. “Everything works better with carbon and hopefully we can get paid to put it there. “If people are paid to sequester carbon it is a huge step for food security.” Mrs Kiely said that farmers do hold a lot of power in shaping the future. “It is slowly starting to sink in that soil is the largest carbon sink under the control of man and farmers control over 50 to 60 per cent of that land mass,” she said. “That makes farmers very important in the future.”

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The Carbon Trade Exchange today announced the commitment to offset the footprint of Australia’s fifth annual Carbon Farming Conference in Dubbo, 27-29 Sept.

The entire event will be offset for the full three days, this will include all travel for the conference speakers to and from the event, the electricity, as well as the on-site event set up and bump out. All delegates and sponsors will be responsible for their own carbon footprint.

The land-based offset credits will be purchased from India where the credit is derived from sugar cane waste in the form of biomass used to generate energy.

Louisa Kiely, Director for the Carbon Farming Conference said “This is a demonstration of how farmers will be able to benefit from generating and then selling carbon credits. At the moment these credits are only available for sourcing overseas, however the recently passed Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI) provides the framework for carbon credits to be derived in Australia and the benefits will go straight back to Australian farmers”.

Ben Stuart, Director of Carbon Trading said “We fully support the CFI in Australia and wanted to show farmers what it could mean for them by participating in this market. Through the process of offsetting of an event we can show how land-based projects, that generate carbon credits, can make money. Businesses will be able to buy CFI credits in Australia to offset their own carbon footprint and count towards their overall emissions reductions with the money generated going back in to the Australian farming community”.

EcoView will be responsible for the footprint measurement using CarbonView. Fadi Geha, Managing Director of EcoView said “we are delighted to work with the Carbon Trade Exchange and the Carbon Farming Conference to assist with the measurement of this event. Offsetting events is a great way to highlight the value of how offsets can play an integral role in assisting Australian farmers to participate in the low carbon economy”.

Carbon offset credits are produced by projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and are made available by companies like the Carbon Trade Exchange to purchase under compliance requirements or voluntary purposes. A carbon offset credit is equivalent to one ton of carbon dioxide removed from the planet’s atmosphere. The money paid for each credit goes to funding either abatement or sequestration projects.

About Carbon Trade Exchange

Carbon Trade Exchange is a global carbon credit trading exchange. The exchange enables carbon buyers and sellers from around the world to trade most major voluntary carbon standards in an extremely efficient, end-to-end electronic process. The Carbon Trade Exchange is the world’s first web based electronic platform for Voluntary Carbon Credits (VERs) and international offset credits (Certified Emission Reductions or CERs).

Carbon Trade Exchange operates from offices in Australia, London and New York. They have a dynamic and highly experienced management team supported by a global board of Directors, led by founder and CEO Wayne Sharpe.

BREAKING NEWS

KEYNOTE SPEAKER ANNOUNCEMENT

Land management’s quiet American revolution

Keynote speaker at this year’s Carbon Farming Conference, Courtney White of the Quivira Coalition, is leading a revolution in land management in America. The former environmental activist abandoned confrontation with ranchers to forge a new community model for creating healthy ‘working landscapes’ by building bridges between ranchers, conservationists, public land managers, scientists and others. In 1997, with two farmers, he co-founded the Quivira Coalition in New Mexico which uses education and collaboration to promote progressive public and private land stewardship. More recently he has been focussed on ‘carbon ranching’ and the new agrarian movement (healthy soil, healthy food, healthy people) in the USA. Mr White is visiting Australia to meet ‘carbon farmers’ and healthy soils activists. Australia is the first country in the world to legislate a carbon offset scheme for farming projects, at a national level.

Courtney will address the topic: “The Carbon Puzzle: Reassembling Land and Livelihoods” at the Carbon Farming Conference (28-29 September, 2011, in Dubbo NSW). He will share his experiences at the forefront of change with the Quivira Coalition. During the Spanish Colonial era in the South Western states, mapmakers used the word 'Quivira' to designate unknown territory beyond the frontier; it was also a term for an elusive golden dream.

Mr White’s writing has appeared in numerous publications, including Farming, Acres Magazine, Rangelands, and the Natural Resources Journal. His essay “The Working Wilderness: a Call for a Land Health Movement” was published by Wendell Berry in 2005 in his collection of essays titled "The Way of Ignorance."  In 2008, Island Press published Courtney’s book Revolution on the Range: the Rise of a New Ranch in the American West. He co-edited, with Dr. Rick Knight, Conservation for a New Generation, also published by Island Press in 2008. 

Free Barista Bar Coffee!

There will be a special networking lounge area with complimentary ‘real’ coffee from a Barista Bar. This coffee service is sponsored by the Environmental Registry and the lounge area is furnished by Harvey Norman Dubbo.

Who Will Be The Carbon Converters?

Not every farmer will want to get involved in trading farm carbon offsets. In fact, at least 25% have already decided not to, according to a recent survey by the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC). The study, called Decisions Made By Farmers That Relate To Climate Change, found there are three types of response to the need to change practices: ignore it (26%), want to do something but can’t afford it (19%), want to do something but need support (55%). This last group - called ‘Cash-poor long-term adaptors’ - tend to believe Climate Change is real and man-made and that we have a responsibility to do something about it. 

They are information seekers and intend to farm more sustainably if they can get support. They tend to have larger farms (average 5000 ha) than the other groups (1600 ha and 2700 ha), and they rely less on off-farm income. They average 55 years of age, their health is good and they feel up to handling change. So, the majority of farmers (74%) want to change to meet the challenge of Climate Change, but need financial support to do so. That is what farm carbon offsets from the Carbon Farming Initiative and the $1.8bn in adjustment funding from the Carbon Tax are designed to deliver to farmers. Now that’s something you won’t hear from rural politicians or regional press outlets.

How the market works (for Indians)

It is hoped that next year it will be Australian farmers, but Carbon offsets paid to farmers in India are being used to offset the emissions generated by this year’s Carbon Farming Conference. The land-based offset credits will be derived from sugar cane used to generate energy. Ben Stuart, Director of Carbon Trading Exchange said “We wanted to demonstrate to farmers what it could mean for them by stepping in to this market. Through the simple offsetting of an event we can show how land-based projects can make money. 

Businesses will be able to buy CFI credits in Australia to offset their own carbon footprint and count towards their overall emissions reductions and the money will be generated back in to the Australian farming community.” Ben will explain at the Conference how these offsets were created and traded-  from go to whoa. The entire event will be offset for the full three days, this will include the electricity for the event, as well as the on-site event set up and bump out (All delegates and sponsors will be responsible for their own carbon footprint.)

The Carbon Farming Conference

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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"It may be that the CFI becomes the only surviving outcome of the Gillard government’s efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions," according to Business Spectator. "If the government’s carbon tax legislation gets through parliament, the Opposition has committed to repeal or substantially modify it if it wins the next election, as appears very likely. On the other hand the Carbon Farming Initiative, which is already through, will probably survive... Rather than repeal the legislation, [the Opposition] has indicated it will try to improve it. The concept also has support in farming circles, including the National Farmers’ Federation."

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