Beef can now talk 'beyond net zero', Wilmot's Alasdair MacLeod says

"If we get this right we can help other sectors of the economy decarbonise because there is no way Australia is going to hit its net zero commitments just by lowering emissions," he said.

"It is not the job of farmers to bail out the rest of the economy who will struggle to meet their emissions commitments. But farmers are good at taking market opportunities - and I believe this is an opportunity.

"In the absence of breakthrough technologies to decarbonise the hard-to-abate sectors, demand for ACCUs (Australian Carbon Credit Units) will be driven up."

Soil carbon sequestration could be a very significant contributor to Australia's move towards overall net zero and it was now clear that it could happen alongside a profitable, efficient, grazing business, Mr MacLeod said.

Macdoch's Wilmot Cattle Company, based near Armidale in NSW, is a frontrunner in the carbon and beef space. It made global headlines in 2021 when it was involved in the first significant sale of soil carbon credits via the voluntary market to Microsoft.

The business, which comprises four properties in the New England region and breeds, trades and grass finishes cattle, held a field day event this week where soil carbon sequestration was a key topic.

Around 350 people, most of them producers, attended. They came from every state and even overseas.

Mr MacLeod's opening address touched on everything controversial in the beef and carbon space, including the insetting verses offsetting debate and the way beef's methane emissions are measured.

But his bottom-line message was that beef producers have to do all they can to reduce on-farm emissions - and have the data and evidence to prove it.

He was at the COP28 United Nations' climate change conference in Dubai in December where the Emirates Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems and Climate Action committed more than 150 countries, including Australia, to include food and agriculture in their climate action plans.

"This will have a profound effect on our industry over the coming years," Mr MacLeod said.

"Even though our federal agriculture minister has indicated his government will not set any binding targets for reduction in ag emissions, we can expect these to come under increasing scrutiny in coming years.

"Meantime, the government has announced its intention to create decarbonisation plans for various industry sectors and decided that agriculture is the first industry sector that is going to be addressed."

On the argument about biogenic livestock emissions not being the equivalent of fossil fuel-based methane emissions, Mr MacLeod said they were indeed very different, but it was going to be a long battle to persuade climate policy makers to change tack.

"The good news is that there is now a lot of work, money and resources going into solving the livestock emissions question, whether that is in the form of feed additives, rumen biome interventions, genetics or some other mechanism for making the process of turning carbohydrate into protein more efficient and minimising methane waste," he said.

On the question of whether to sell carbon credits, Mr MacLeod said it was clear the supply chain did not want to pay much of a premium for carbon neutrality.

"Here's the problem: If I can sell carbon credits at $30 to $40 a tonne, I am going to have to receive a much bigger premium for my beef to forgo that opportunity," he said.

"We have to work out how to do both (inset and offset). I believe the capacity of most of our farms will allow us to do both, so long as we get the management levers right."