Gillard woos farmers

NSW Farmer of the Year Ridley Bell with Prime Minister Gillard and Janelle Saffin.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard was in the region on Saturday when she used the Wollongbar Agriculture Institute as the backdrop to announce a new initiative that would allow farmers to earn money by storing carbon on their land and trading carbon credits.

Flanked by Climate Change Minister Penny Wong, Agriculture Minister Tony Burke and Page MP Janelle Saffin, the policy announcement was vague on detail but offered farmers a way of earning carbon credits by growing trees on their land and then selling the credits on domestic or international markets to individuals or companies wanting to off-set their emissions.

Ms Gillard said the policy could be worth $500 million to farmers over 10 years.

During the announcement the PM said they were also working on methodologies for reforestation, manure management in intensive livestock production and savannah fire management that could be developed by 2011, while methodologies for avoiding deforestation and fertiliser use could be developed by 2012.

There was also a promise to “support further research” on biochar and to fast-track methodologies for storing carbon in soils.

But local carbon consultant and trader Mark Jackson said the detail was so vague that it was “in the never never”.

“They have now cemented their position that there won’t be an emissions trading scheme or a price on carbon in Australia,” he said. “Bringing activities onto the voluntary carbon market is part of the massive back flip on climate change. If they were serious they would address it with a price on carbon.

“But doing something in the area of reforestation is better than doing nothing at all. There are long lead-in times on forestry and farm-based carbon projects and this will allow people to get a modest start... But Gillard has failed to give industry certainty. Neither side is giving them that... The issue is so big that unless there is bipartisan support, it doesn’t work.”

SCU’s co-director of GeoScience Professor Leigh Sullivan said the policy would be “a great move forward” when the methodologies for storing carbon in soils were established and approved.

“New technologies that were not approved under Kyoto will now get international acceptance based on the science,” he said.