A debate is raging over what role carbon offsets and agriculture will play as Australia deals with the complicated task of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Farmers are concerned the federal government's plan to reduce the emissions of big polluters would rely too heavily on carbon credits from measures such as tree planting.
Victorian cattle breeder Olivia Lawson said she was concerned the policy wouldn't do enough to slow down climate change and could have unintended consequences for agriculture.
"I think there's some inequity there where agriculture is being relied upon to prop up the heavy emitters and I don't see that that's going to be a long-term viable solution to mitigating against climate change and emissions," she said.
"I think it's just like moving the pieces around on the game board rather than actually moving our net position forward."
Ms Lawson said she'd been working hard over the past two decades to reduce her farm's own impacts and was part of a trial with Agriculture Victoria auditing how much greenhouse gases she emitted and drew back out of the atmosphere.
"Our major source of emissions is methane nitrous oxide from our cattle," she said.
"Given we are 100 per cent beef breeding business, that wasn't surprising to us.
"We were just really interested to actually get a figure on what our footprint is and then be able to work on a plan to mitigate against those emissions."
But Ms Lawson said she didn't want to reduce her emissions to sell as carbon credits to other industries.
She said she wanted to make her own farm and the broader agriculture sector carbon neutral.
"There is a genuine desire, I think, for farmers to reduce their emissions," she said.
She said the task could be made more complicated by the federal government's proposed policy.
"I think it could set a dangerous precedent, where farmers are not going to have the ability to offset their own emissions and become carbon neutral themselves," she said.
Farm land buy ups
Farmers for Climate Action (FCA) has warned an increased demand for offsets could prompt big companies to buy up farmland for projects such as tree growing, driving up land prices and competing with food production.
FCA advisor and farmer, Ellen Litchfield, said it was ridiculous polluters would be able to buy unlimited offsets at a capped price.
"There is a big place for offsets and carbon farming and buying carbon credits but it shouldn't come instead of decreasing real emissions," she said.
At Moora, in the West Australian wheatbelt, gas and oil company Woodside has purchased land to revegetate as part of its native reforestation project, a key part of its plan to be net zero by 2050.
It's not far from Phil Gardiner's sheep and grain farm.
He said he was unimpressed by the new arrival in his neighbourhood.
"We're being very short-sighted in my view of selling our land, to the big oil or gas companies to help them suppress their emissions," he said.
"They should be solving their emissions at source too, just like we are going to have to solve our emissions source, the gas companies need to solve their emissions right where the wells are."
In a statement Woodside Energy said:
"In relation to our carbon projects in Australia, we are working with regional communities to ensure we do not displace traditional agriculture, but instead enhance the areas where we have a presence.
"We aim to work with neighbours of our carbon projects to make sure land is available where there is potential for farming activities to occur."
Offsets stoush
Federal Agriculture Minister Murray Watt said offsets were an important part of the government's plan to reduce emissions.
"I'm confident that we can design this growing carbon market in a way that does allow for farmers to be able to reap the benefit of their own carbon credits that they might be growing on their own properties, while also still meeting the needs of industry," he said.
"I don't really think it's an either or proposition that, we have to either just cut emissions at their source or have offsets, I think it's going to take a combination of both.
"Because the reality is that for some of our heavy industry, the technology is not yet there to slash their emissions by the amount that's actually needed."
Independent Senator David Pocock and the Greens were crucial to the government getting the legislation passed through the Senate and both had raised concerns about the reliance on carbon offsets.
The federal government hopes to pass the changes by the end of the month, with negotiations still ongoing.
On-farm emissions
While there are no rules or regulations requiring agriculture to reduce emissions, Phil Gardiner said farmers should be future proofing for if that day came.
"They are likely to if we don't have solutions by 2030, in my view, and that will primarily be driven by our customers, be it for wheat, canola, or be it for meat," he said.
"I don't think we as farmers in the hands-on business, quite accept how serious the current circumstances are, and how much more serious they might get."
More support
In Australia, agriculture contributes to about 13 per cent of overall emissions, with nearly half that coming from methane from livestock.
In a report released this week, Farmers for Climate Action urged the federal government to develop a national agriculture and climate change roadmap.
Six hundred farmers were surveyed and Ellen Litchfield said many were looking for guidance.
"Ninety-three per cent of respondent farmers expressed a willingness to change farming practices and to decrease emissions, if it was going to be able to benefit their farm and the environment ... but they just don't really know how to go about it," she said.
"The issue and the barrier that they had is that they weren't sure, and didn't know how to access those new technologies."
Mr Watt said it was consistent with what he'd been hearing from farmers.
"I think that's a perfect role for government to be playing that role of linking farmers with those in the community who have the ideas about how to become more sustainable, how to bring down your energy costs, all those kinds of things that farmers want to do," he said.
