Free webinar to discuss balancing biodiversity on-farm

A webinar on 25 September will demonstrate how red meat producers, as stewards of more than 50% of Australia’s land, can balance the relationship between nature and production. 

The free webinar will explore how planting native trees on farms could impact farm-level biodiversity, carbon storage and livestock production in the short and long-term, as recently investigated on 14 sheep and cattle farms across Australia.  

Lead researcher Professor Matthew Harrison said early results suggest planting native trees may be one of the most promising interventions for on-farm systems to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  

“The webinar will showcase the latest research on what happens when you plant trees on farms, with a focus on long-term implications for biodiversity on-farm.

“We’re looking at interventions which will reduce those emissions while improving productivity for food security, profit for business prosperity, and biodiversity,” Matthew said.  

As part of the project, spatially explicit and temporal dynamic models were used to simulate the changes to biodiversity across a range of indicators, including threatened species habitat, benefit for species persistence, effective habitat condition and ecosystem services. 

Involving producers across Australia, the analysis accounted for different agroecological regions, analysing how each area is impacted.   

“We’ve looked at the costs, how much pasture is consumed, what impact it would have on livestock productivity, and how it reduces emissions when you simulate growth over 20 years.” 

The research is part of the ‘Sustainable Pathways to CN30’ project, which brings together a multi-disciplined research team looking at options for carbon storage and emissions reduction in red meat systems across Australia.   

“Other interventions we’re exploring include improving the growth rate of young animals to avoid methane emissions, feeding red algae (Asparagopsis) to reduce enteric methane, improving feed-use efficiency, whole-farm planning and improving grazing management to boost pasture production and carrying capacity.

“We’re essentially developing options for farm systems aimed at finding an intersection between production and environmental stewardship,” Matthew said.  

The webinar will provide an opportunity for attendees to ask questions at the end.

Sign up for the webinar here.