20 February 2024. Michael Guerin, AgForce CEO.
Last week Queensland Premier Steven Miles introduced a bill to parliament mandating further emissions targets into legislation.
AgForce was there. Now as the bill progresses through the parliamentary and committee process, it is even more critical we are at the table and not watching from the sidelines.
One of my first comments to those assembled in parliament, was that ours is the only industry to have tangibly reduced emissions since the 1995 baseline. This is not a debatable fact, the national accounts show it. Queensland Agriculture has reduced its net emissions profile by more than 50% in that time.
No other industry can stake that claim, but it’s no surprise to me this is not well understood.
And so I went further, outlining how we have managed this without compromising our ongoing food security, and how despite the growing regulatory burden, we continue to innovate and build efficiency and effectiveness into our farming systems.
The wider conversation of course should not be about emissions by itself - it should be about Natural Capital - of which emissions is only one element. All producers have a powerful Natural Capital story to tell at property level – and baselining your story is in my view becoming more critical by the day. I commend you to consider AgCarE.org.au
It encourages the farmer to document how they manage land sustainability; connecting environmental resilience with economic outcomes. It gives the evidence-based data that we need to prove we are building better landscapes, biodiversity, access to markets, productivity, and resource management.
AgCarE gives a comprehensive breakdown of the finely balanced relationship between agricultural production, the ecosystem and the humans that depend on that healthy environment for production of food and fibre.
It’s a verifiable system built by and for landholders that we can use to prove our case.
The coming emissions conversation as this bill makes its way through parliament is one of our most consequential. AgForce will be a strong voice at the table and ensure AgCarE is part of the discussion.