Steps in Carbon Farming

Webinar 2 in a 3-part series

What are the options for realising value from soil carbon farming and the latest changes to the methodologies?

In this webinar, we will be considering the best ways to access the available carbon in your farm for economic and environmental benefit.

Farmers are set to be major suppliers of Environmental Goods and Services using mechanisms such as the carbon credit market. As these markets grow in volume, scope, and scale, it is important that farmers get fair access. Today we will be looking at the potential for more farmers to gain access to a fairer deal from the Environmental Goods and Services market through knowing and understanding the processes that they can adopt for best practice returns.

About the panellists

Dr Greg Bender, Director at Australian Soil Management

Dr Bender is one of Australia’s most experienced and knowledgeable scientists in the field of soil biology and organic matter. He is passionate about smarter land management, meaning the integration of sophisticated natural systems with modern farming practices to build better soils, landscapes and businesses.

Greg’s career began as a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Australian National University specializing in beneficial interactions between plants and soil microbes. Since then he has gone on to develop and commercialize many new forms of microbial fertilizers and pesticides. In addition, Greg has over 30 years experience as a business manager, research manager, consultant and scientist in the rural sector. He has a strong family background in farming. For their clients, Greg brings a unique advantage in being able to combine business acumen with scientific expertise in a way that people can easily put into practice. He understands science and technology and their application in land management enterprises.

Norman Marshall, Director at Australian Soil Management

Mr Norman Marshall is a results-focused director with a reputation for building businesses to support worthwhile causes at a national level. As a CEO of many noteworthy national causes such as Parkinson’s Australia supporting those with Parkinson’s disease and their communities. He also founded and directed Australian Drug Management and Education. Moreover, Norman is experienced and confident in working with Government and systems. Norman has practical skills and experience in building carbon levels in soil. His horse property in Australia’s high country is a sanctuary for rescue horses and is also a bio-diversity reserve. It is one of the best examples of improved healthy soils and therefore healthy animals.

The ASM website highlights that these presenters are not just ‘pen pushers’ but bring their expertise from a history of practical application.

Lorraine Gordon, Carbon Farmer, Founder of the Regenerative Agriculture Alliance and Director of the Farming Together Program, Southern Cross University

Lorraine Gordon takes pride in bringing practical knowledge to the fore along through theory. Lorraine has assisted over 28,500 farmers, fishers and foresters around the country to progress collaborative projects and establish Cooperatives which will benefit their various industries as Director of the  multi-award winning, Commonwealth Government’s Farming Together Program. As such, Lorraine was awarded the 2018 Rural Community Leader of the Year for Australia for her work with farmers.

At heart, and at the core of what she does, Lorraine is a carbon farmer and holistic beef cattle trader at Ebor in the New England Tablelands of NSW, where she uses timed control grazing methods to turn off up to 1000 steers per annum. A Graduate of the Australian Rural Leadership Program and previous NSW ABC Rural Woman of the Year Lorraine is currently completing her PhD in Ecological Economics through UNE, looking at a triple-bottom-line comparisons between regenerative and conventional grazing systems.