In an Australian first, farmers in South East Queensland’s Traprock region are pooling their resources to aggregate their market power to sell carbon credits as part of Regen Farmers Mutual – a farmer-owned co-op.
It’s taken nearly two years to get this landmark project to this point with five farmers across 10,000 hectares of land, the first under the mutual to register with the Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCU) scheme which builds on their work to develop the carbon project using the Regen Digital technology that helps them examine, trace and prove the value of their “Natural Capital“.
The project has been spearheaded by local fourth generation sheep farmer Andrew Finley and his neighbour Andrew Ferrier, whose family has been on the land for more than 100 years.
Regen Farmers Mutual co-director Andrew Ward said this project was setting the standard for future deals of this nature, involving a group of farmers.
“The mutual has agreed to $100 per unit for the first 1000 of 18,500 available carbon credits across 750 hectares of land which will really set the bar high for our farmers. Latest Australian carbon credit units (ACCU) data shows spot prices hovering around $32 after dropping as low as $24 in 2023, so this is a very good figure,” Mr Ward said.
Under the Mutual model, farmers are getting both the lowest cost and best prices for their efforts, elevating the price any singular farmer could get on their own, keeping more money in their pockets.
It’s an exciting prospect with demand for carbon offsets from emissions-intensive industries likely to see the market for carbon credits soar over the coming years as the world shifts to net zero.
“We’re thrilled to see our vision coming to life in Traprock. This is a major step forward for regenerative agriculture and sustainable farming practices in Australia,” Mr Ward said.
“There’s been a massive shift in how farmers are viewing their properties, with many realising it could be a costly mistake not to utilise the true value of what they have under their feet and around them.
“Farmers have gone from seeing just trees in a paddock to looking at their economical and biodiversity value and seeking that additional income stream,” he said.
Carbon sequestration efforts as part of the Traprock project have resulted in the capture of 30,000 tons of CO2, with a goal of reaching one million tons, with plans to upscale the area of protected woodland to 250,000 hectares.
Regen Farmers Mutual co-director Rohan Clarke, a former currency and commodity trader, said nearly every Australian farmer now has access to a digital map of their land, showing property boundaries and productivity data – up from 40 per cent just two years ago.
But he warned the remote sensed information is being used to estimate a default data set, lumping all farmers of similar properties together, unless individual farmers could provide accurate calculations and impact reports on what they’re doing to set them apart.
“It’s critical that farmers identify a baseline and then provide proof of sustainable farming and environmental improvements on their land, setting them apart from other landholders, which can help them open up new sources of revenue,” Mr Clarke said.
“An Environmental Farm Assessment doesn’t just look at ag assets like dams, bores and sheds; it includes remnant vegetation, watercourses, biodiversity hot spots and resource usage across the farm to uncover the environmental value.
“Farmers can then model different environmental actions and the way these would impact their operations and income,” he added.
Sustainable farming is now a major theme in global agricultural markets as consumers increasingly want to know more about the supply chain of the products they consume.
“Consumers are increasingly wanting to know where their products are coming from and farmers who are supplying products that are carbon neutral should be rewarded,” Mr Ward said.
Regen Farmers Mutual, is also collaborating with the Australian National University with the introduction of the Native Woodland Biodiversity Credit, where 77 per cent of the habitat is on private land across more than 10,000 farms in Queensland, NSW, and Victoria.
This innovative initiative aims to protect and restore the critically endangered Box-Gum Grassy Woodlands and Derived Grasslands, essential habitats for rare species such as superb parrots, regent honeyeaters, squirrel gliders, koalas and quolls.
Regen Digital is embarking on a fresh capital raise of up to $6M to further enhance technology to scale up projects like at Traprock.
“We are inviting stakeholders, investors, and community members to join us in transforming farms into an example of regenerative agriculture and ecological stewardship,” Mr Ward said.
