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When is ‘Sustainable Agriculture’ Climate-Safe & Beyond Blue Carbon Sequestration
This show was broadcast on Monday 10th April 2017
In this show we are talking carbon sequestration. First up BZE Radio's Vivien Langford talks with North Queensland cattle farmer Elena Garcia, who is aiming to transform her property into a climate-safe rangelands grazing operation using 'sustainable' low input practices. Then BZE Radio's Kurt Johnson talks to Quinn Ollivier, an expert on the seagrass beds of coastal Australia and why it is that these massive carbon sinks are so enduring - and threatened.
Thank you to our guests:
Elena Garcia and Alan Broughton, the authors of a highly controversial new book
Sustainable Agriculture versus Corporate Greed.
Quinn Ollivier, ecologist and expert on sea grass and mangrove sequestration of carbon
Climate change prompts us to think about threats to crops, threats to food supply and the opportunities of sustainable and climate-safe land use. But are there any examples of sustainable and climate-safe rangelands grazing? Can rangelands grazing be good for lowering fire-related emissions and what about the climate impact of methane from enteric fermentation of the ruminants grazed there?
The BZE Landuse discussion paper analysis suggests that agricultural activities based on both nitrogenous fertilisers and rangelands grazing need to be - and can be - dramatically transformed - so how is this to be accomplished in practice?
About our guests:
Elena Garcia is a firefighter as well as a cattle farmer. She talks about insurance for farmers, harvesting of feral animals, productive use of 'marginal' land, and protection of our water sources from mining. Elena says her aim is to be a bridge between city people - who transport, purchase and eat food - and the rural people who produce it. For Elena it is all about protecting water, protecting the food supply and protecting the ability of soils and rangelands to fix carbon long term. Elena is a crusader for 'low-inputs' and 'ecological farming'. That's something that is important as we lower emissions from farming, because fertiliser as a farm input is very emissions-intensive - there's the warming gas, nitrous oxide, that it emits after it is applied to soil, there is the possible but still contested detrimental impact on soil carbon in humus, and there is the fossil-carbon and energy used to make it.
However, be warned! The ideas in this book and in this interview are highly controversial - the science around what makes for climate-safe and sustainable rangelands grazing is still very contested, and may even be at odds with BZEs own analysis and framework.
In the end, a national discussion needs to occur on the future for rangelands grazing practices in a net zero carbon agricultural sector. Properties may need to be assessed on a case by case basis to ensure the very best possible outcomes. Some practices will be promoted and others demoted!
In future shows BZE Radio will be talking with BZE report authors, scientists and farmers, and really tease out the issues and confusions in this vital topic.
Australian farmers often want to and are already even doing the right thing by the climate. But it still very hard, even for growers, to always know what that means. Let's work together so that we can rapidly transform Australia's agricultural sector into a genuinely net zero high-productivity sector, one that can supply both high quality domestic food and fibre products as well as export to the world.
Quinn Ollivier specialises in the sediment underlying salt marshes, seagrass beds and mangroves. He is a part of team whose research may result in Blue Carbon credits becoming part of national and global carbon accounting calculations. He talks about the wealth of biodiversity and fishing that is protected by mangrove forests and the nitty-gritty of...
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This show was broadcast on Monday 10th April 2017
In this show we are talking carbon sequestration. First up BZE Radio's Vivien Langford talks with North Queensland cattle farmer Elena Garcia, who is aiming to transform her property into a climate-safe rangelands grazing operation using 'sustainable' low input practices. Then BZE Radio's Kurt Johnson talks to Quinn Ollivier, an expert on the seagrass beds of coastal Australia and why it is that these massive carbon sinks are so enduring - and threatened.
Thank you to our guests:
Elena Garcia and Alan Broughton, the authors of a highly controversial new book
Sustainable Agriculture versus Corporate Greed.
Quinn Ollivier, ecologist and expert on sea grass and mangrove sequestration of carbon
Climate change prompts us to think about threats to crops, threats to food supply and the opportunities of sustainable and climate-safe land use. But are there any examples of sustainable and climate-safe rangelands grazing? Can rangelands grazing be good for lowering fire-related emissions and what about the climate impact of methane from enteric fermentation of the ruminants grazed there?
The BZE Landuse discussion paper analysis suggests that agricultural activities based on both nitrogenous fertilisers and rangelands grazing need to be - and can be - dramatically transformed - so how is this to be accomplished in practice?
About our guests:
Elena Garcia is a firefighter as well as a cattle farmer. She talks about insurance for farmers, harvesting of feral animals, productive use of 'marginal' land, and protection of our water sources from mining. Elena says her aim is to be a bridge between city people - who transport, purchase and eat food - and the rural people who produce it. For Elena it is all about protecting water, protecting the food supply and protecting the ability of soils and rangelands to fix carbon long term. Elena is a crusader for 'low-inputs' and 'ecological farming'. That's something that is important as we lower emissions from farming, because fertiliser as a farm input is very emissions-intensive - there's the warming gas, nitrous oxide, that it emits after it is applied to soil, there is the possible but still contested detrimental impact on soil carbon in humus, and there is the fossil-carbon and energy used to make it.
However, be warned! The ideas in this book and in this interview are highly controversial - the science around what makes for climate-safe and sustainable rangelands grazing is still very contested, and may even be at odds with BZEs own analysis and framework.
In the end, a national discussion needs to occur on the future for rangelands grazing practices in a net zero carbon agricultural sector. Properties may need to be assessed on a case by case basis to ensure the very best possible outcomes. Some practices will be promoted and others demoted!
In future shows BZE Radio will be talking with BZE report authors, scientists and farmers, and really tease out the issues and confusions in this vital topic.
Australian farmers often want to and are already even doing the right thing by the climate. But it still very hard, even for growers, to always know what that means. Let's work together so that we can rapidly transform Australia's agricultural sector into a genuinely net zero high-productivity sector, one that can supply both high quality domestic food and fibre products as well as export to the world.
Quinn Ollivier specialises in the sediment underlying salt marshes, seagrass beds and mangroves. He is a part of team whose research may result in Blue Carbon credits becoming part of national and global carbon accounting calculations. He talks about the wealth of biodiversity and fishing that is protected by mangrove forests and the nitty-gritty of...