Coming up in Mackay – this excellent event, hosted at the farm of Simon Mattsson, one of the key agricultural collaborators on the Watershed Land Art Project.
THIS FIELD DAY IS FREE FOR LANDHOLDERS, with funding provided by Farmers for Climate Action.
The event is supported by Reef Catchment’s Regional Landcare Facilitator through funding from the Australian Government National Landcare Programme
FARMING, CARBON AND OUR CLIMATE
Cane farmers, graziers and landholders are invited to learn more about methods being trialled by local farmers to build farm resilience and help counteract climate conditions and declining soil health.
Sunday 12th August
1pm to 5pm
171 Newmans Road, Marian
Register by 6th August
CLICK HERE OR PHONE 07 4968 4200
info@reefcatchments.com
Download PDF Flyer here
Here’s a news report on how the day went.
“Climate, Cane and Carbon: Farmers pack out Marian field day”
by Luke Mortimer 14th Aug 2018
IT SEEMS primary producers across the Mackay region are hungry for up-to-date information about climate change and smarter farming.
More than 60 farmers from the Mackay region attended a Climate, Cane and Carbon field day at Marian on Sunday, said Mackay Conservation Group. Cane grower and Nuffield Scholar Simon Mattsson swung open the gates of his family farm for a shed full of his fellow primary producers.
Co-hosted by the group, Reef Catchments and Farmers for Climate Action, RSVPs reportedly had to be canned ahead of the event as interest sky-rocketed and spots quickly packed out.
Mr Mattsson spoke about the latest science and research on the climate and cane farming within the Mackay region.
He also raised multi-species cropping and boosting organic carbon levels in soil – methods aimed at improving productivity on Mackay farms.
Keynote speaker Robert Quirk, who is deputy chair of the Australian Cane Farmers Association, pushed for the community to grasp the risks of inaction regarding climate change.
He also detailed opportunities for cane farmers to change up in the face of climate change, while also increasing the output from their farms.
“Growing cane with a focus on carbon retention is one of the best ways to get carbon out of the air and into the soil and offers a range of benefits for producers including moisture retention, higher production and less input costs,” he said.
Mackay Regional Council also had a speaker attend in chief executive Craig Doyle, who spoke about the council’s transition to renewable energy generation and why making the switch just makes economic sense.
“A few years ago the council invested $2 million in distributed solar energy and this year, the third year of the project, ratepayers will save around $300 000 on council energy bills and starting next year savings will be around half a million dollars per year over the life the project,” he said.
The Queensland coordinator of Farmers for Climate Action, Michael Kane, was thrilled to see strong interest in “climate smart” farming practices within the Mackay farming community, and ensuring future sustainability.
“Farmers in the Mackay region are hungry for information about improving soils, carbon sequestration and climate change,” he said.
“Dangerous climate change poses great risks for agriculture in the Mackay region and farmers are very concerned about that, farmers are keen to talk about mitigating climate risk and obviously they are also interested in the production benefits of carbon farming as well.”
Mackay region grower Richard Pryor, member of Central Queensland Soil Health Systems, attended and said it was “good to get off farm to hear new ideas”.
I want to build soil carbon on my place as it is a good measure of soil health and I am keen to learn more about how to to that,” he said.