Welcome to the latest news and updates from the NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) On-Farm Carbon Advice program!
On-Farm Carbon Advice Program Update
The On-farm Carbon Advice team has hit the ground running in 2025! This year, we are excited to offer new learning activities:
establishing demonstration sites and field days to showcase ways to reduce on-farm greenhouse gas emissions, and
starting a monthly webinar series covering a range of topics, including practical strategies for emissions reduction.
There are still opportunities for livestock farmers in NSW interested in getting a farm carbon management plan completed for their property.
Lastly, we found the MLA-funded report really interesting, looking at an Integrated Management System (IMS) approach.
Webinar Series
The On-Farm Carbon Advice team is excited to present an engaging webinar series covering current policy work and research undertaken by DPIRD on low emissions agricultural opportunities. DPIRD researchers will start off by covering the following topics:
March - Dr Aaron Simmons - Low emissions agriculture
April - Dr Warwick Badgery - Understanding soil carbon, it's limits and opportunities,
May - TBC - Low methane pastures and feed quality
Plus other on low methane sheep and beef, nitrogen efficiency and novel fertilisers and opportunities to replace fossil fuels with renewable options.
For those on the North Coast, the OFCA team is collaborating with the DPIRD’s Farms of the Future team to showcase how AgTech can assist in measuring and monitoring on-farm emissions.
Farm Carbon Management Plans The team is now reviewing all expressions of interest received and will be in touch shortly! If you haven’t yet registered and are interested in completing a farm carbon management plan for your property, please reach out by clicking the link below! The plan includes:
Emissions Profile: A detailed breakdown of on-farm emissions for a calendar or financial year, covering activities such as livestock management, cropping, fertiliser use, plant protection products, fuel, and energy.
Emissions Intensity: An estimate of emission intensity, representing the level of output per tonne of emissions, for the farm’s primary agricultural products.
Mitigation Strategies: Information on practical options for emissions avoidance, reduction, and carbon sequestration, tailored to each farm’s capabilities and land potential.
Natural Asset Mapping: Mapping of the farm’s natural assets, including topography, soils, carbon stocks, and woody vegetation.
Delivering Integrated Management System (IMS) options for CN30
The IMS project was funded by the MLA Donor Company and undertaken in collaboration between the University of Melbourne the Queensland University of Technology and NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) as part of the CN30 project. This project evaluated new and emerging emissions mitigation solutions in the farming context and looked at adoption rates and methods, including ACCU methods, to account for the emissions reductions achieved.
It is a comprehensive report and includes some important findings about livestock dietary supplements, soil carbon (including work around grazing management and long-term data and modelling) and low-methane pasture species. It also includes work on legumes from a tropical pasture landscape and how they may work in the more tropical environments. There are references to several peer-reviewed journal articles published as part of the project, worth reading if you want to better understand the evidence behind these strategies.
The report also covers three farm case studies. For those of you who are undertaking your ‘knowing your farm emissions’ and starting to baseline your farms, these case studies reveal total and net emissions, emissions intensity and sequestration, options to avoid and other mitigation measures on these case study farms.
‘Producer pathways to adoption of new mitigation’ discusses two producer groups from southern and central parts of NSW, who amongst other activities, explored emissions mitigation scenarios using a hypothetical farm. The model farm allowed an investigation into the 'what if' scenarios around prime lambs, beef cattle and merino enterprises.
Some of the mitigation options included:
changing the wether proportion of the flock,
increased lamb survival,
later calving and selling yearlings,
improving pastures,
increasing pregnancy rates,
changing lambing times
These scenarios helped to see the impact on emissions intensity and gross margins. As we start discussing options to reduce emissions and emission intensity, understanding the impacts and costs is critical.
