The Carbon Farming Futures program is an important part of the Australian governments plan for securing a clean energy future. The program aims to encourage sustainable land use, reduce emissions and help industries adapt to a changing climate. It also has the long term aim of helping farmers and landholders benefit from some of the future opportunities of the Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI). Total project budget is $429 million.
The program has 3 main components:
- Filling the research gap
- Action on the ground
- Extension and outreach
Filling the Research Gap
Filling the Research Gap is investing $201 million over 6 years (2012-2017) to support research into emerging abatement technologies, strategies and innovative management practices that reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the land sector, sequester carbon and enhance sustainable agricultural practices.
Filling the Research Gap builds on DAFF’s Climate Change Research Program which ran from 2008-2012. Research projects are mainly focussed on greenhouse gas abatement technologies. The priorities are: reducing methane emissions; reducing nitrous oxide emissions; sequestering carbon; improving modelling capability; and adapting to climate change and its associated climate variability.
Research outcomes will help to develop the new methodologies needed for increased participation in the CFI (eg storing carbon in soil).
240 proposals were received for round two of the Filling the Research Gap, which closed in January 2013. It is likely the projects funded will include some which are relevant to the vegetable industry.
There are therefore opportunities for the vegetable industry to partner with research providers and focus research funding on issues that meet specific industry needs. Of the $201 million allocated, $47 million has been committed in round one. A similar amount is likely to be committed in round two, leaving approximately $100 million available for subsequent rounds through to 2017. Given the current program priorities, the areas most likely to be relevant to the vegetable industry are:
- Nitrogen fertiliser management and nitrous oxide emissions reductions.
- Soil management to increase soil carbon stores (in round 2 there is a specific priority for “the effect of management practice on soil carbon content in intensive, high input systems”).
- Farm systems design and analysis.
- Adaptation to climate change with its associated climate variability.
Action on the ground
Action on the Ground is investing up to $99 million of grant funding in on-farm projects over six years. The program supports landholders, research, industry, non-government, government and farmer ‘care’ and ‘grower’ groups/organisations to come together to trial and demonstrate management practices and technologies on-farm that can reduce agricultural greenhouse gas emissions and/or increase carbon sequestered in soil.
Action on the Ground’s on-farm projects demonstrate the emerging opportunities for land managers to participate in the CFI. Action on the Ground also provides a link between research programs and farms. Projects under Action on the Ground “scale-up” and reality-test research results in real farming situations.
The vegetable industry has the opportunity to lead, or develop consortiums, for Action on the Ground projects that specifically address the needs of the sector.
Of the $99 million allocated, $25.2 million has been committed in round one, leaving approximately $74 million available for subsequent rounds through to 2017.
It is likely that the priority areas for round 2 of relevance to the vegetable industry would be similar to that of Filling the Research Gap and include:
- Nitrogen fertiliser management and nitrous oxide emissions reductions.
- Soil management to increase soil carbon stores.
- Testing of farm systems design.
- Practices which help adaptation to climate change.
There was a shift in emphasis to adaptation research projects in round two. This may also occur in round two of Action on the Ground.
Extension and Outreach
Extension and Outreach is investing $48 million to assist farmers, land managers and key influencers to reduce land-sector greenhouse gas emissions, sequester carbon in the landscape and participate in the CFI by:
- Providing technical information and support about integrating carbon management into whole-farm planning and farm performance.
- Sharing new research and farm techniques for the property and farm business, including those generated through the Carbon Farming Futures programs.
- Increasing communication resources and channels available;
- Creating tools and information systems to improve knowledge of land-sector emissions.
- Enhancing productivity and environmental sustainability.
The Extension and Outreach funding aims to deliver information that is clear, consistent and current for farmers, land managers and their key influencers using a mix of traditional and new extension services.
The Extension and Outreach program has three funding components:
- Information, tools and extension activities.
- Extension providers and service delivery.
- Targeted industry and regional initiatives.
The vegetable industry has the opportunity to lead, or develop consortiums, for Extension and Outreach projects that specifically address the needs of the sector. A total of $64 million has been allocated to the three components with no projects currently funded. The program is running an open-call for projects, with assessment times to be set through the year. The first assessment closed on the 19th December 2012.
The vegetable industry could seek funding to:
- develop specific extension material (component 1)
- fund extension providers (component 2)
- develop industry or regional extension programs (component 3).
In particular, there may be an opportunity to obtain funding for existing IDOs to become skilled up in the CFI and be funded to deliver one-on-one advice to growers. This might take the form of applying for an overarch project, which includes all three of the components above and covers, for example, 20% of an IDO’s salary. The package would then integrate and deliver the climate change and variability information to the vegetable industry, together with other productivity or sustainability information.