Agriculture’s role as a vital climate solution

At evoke^AG 2025, industry leaders went head-to-head in a lively debate on agriculture’s role as a climate solution. With ongoing disputes over the how and when of action, this session tackled the big questions. Are on-farm carbon offsets truly viable and profitable? Is natural capital investment the key to addressing biodiversity and climate challenges? Are we overselling soil carbon’s potential?

With diverse views from our panellists, this thought-provoking session challenged everything we thought we knew about agriculture and climate.

The promise of soil carbon

Carly Burnham, Director of Bonnie Doone Organic Beef, shared how her 20,000-acre organic beef farm has successfully sequestered more than 100,000 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent.

Carly Burnham on the panel at evoke^AG. 2025

Currently holding the largest amount of soil carbon units in Australia, the project involves rigorous scientific methodology and verification and is registered with the Australian Government’s Clean Energy Regulator.

Carly explained how Bonnie Doone Organic Beef uses time-control grazing to move cattle through the paddocks to pulse-graze pasture and get rest into the soil to support natural processes.

“It was a significant investment in money and capital infrastructure; however, we have tripled our productivity through implementing this practice change,” Carly said.

“It has been challenging and very rewarding and it’s certainly an opportunity for Australian agriculture, but carbon isn’t the only part of solving climate change.

“Soil carbon has been a byproduct of the natural ecosystem that we operate within and really nurturing all the dynamic parts of it.”

Scaling up soil carbon projects across Australia

Session facilitator Tim Hunt then posed two questions to Hugh Killen from Impact Ag Australia: how replicable is this approach and why aren’t we all doing this?

“We’re trying to prove that you can do it at an institutional level,” Hugh said.

“So, the way to think about what we do at Impact Ag is we take what Carly’s doing – which is very innovative, and they would’ve taken a lot of risk and a lot of time to build that out in their production system – and we are trying to bring in other investors and other capital crowd around her methodologies to actually scale that out.

“We operate very clearly at that kind of crossroads between highly productive agriculture and the application of the natural capital and the ecosystem services we put across all the farms we manage.

“Soil carbon can be quite a confusing notion by itself, but what we are doing is drawing down biogenic carbon out of the atmosphere into the soil that increases soil health and soil resilience.

“Ultimately, you are creating a more resilient and more profitable farm over the longer term. So, it makes good business sense.”

Broader role of healthy soils and barriers to widespread take-up

Dr Susan Orgill from Select Carbon emphasised that soil carbon is just one part of agriculture’s contribution to climate. Healthy, productive soils and landscapes offer a range of ecosystem benefits beyond just carbon sequestration.

Susan Orgill on the panel at evoke^AG. 2025

As a soil scientist, she explained that carbon service providers like Select Carbon work with farmers and companies to help them understand soil carbon, design projects, and implement practice changes through the Australian Carbon Credit Unit (ACCU) Scheme.

But there are barriers to the widespread adoption of the types of methods used by farms like Bonnie Doone Organic Beef.

“One barrier is the uncertainty in the market. That uncertainty might come from politics and being nervous about changes and expectations around what producers are going to need to do in the future,” said Susan.

“It might be uncertainties around the permanence of carbon and building that in the system.

“But I also think the scientific community is exceptionally curious and good at solving problems as well. So, I think we’re moving more into the curious and less furious science debate.”

Despite these barriers, Susan said the latest scientific research indicates that there is an urgent need to change practices to help build soil carbon at a landscape scale. She suggested that paralysis around perfection over progress is stalling necessary action.

Challenges in the food system

Michelle Gortan from the Macdoch Foundation argued that the conversation needs to expand beyond just carbon and the farm-gate to consider the wider food system’s impacts on nature, climate and human health.

She highlighted the influence and impact of industrial-scale commodity production, which supplies the base ingredients for ultra-processed foods, many of which are known to be detrimental to human health and the cause of diet-related diseases such as Type-2 diabetes, obesity and certain cancers.

“Supermarket shelves are designed in such a way to drive us in particular directions, towards the “middle aisles,” Michelle said.

“Food environments determine our set of choices. Food deserts force us towards junk foods and fast foods. We’re dealing with powerful marketing forces that shape our demand. Food corporations spend dollars in the multi-millions marketing to us and their sole objective is the maximisation of profit, not supporting human or planetary heath.

“As consumers, as citizens, we need to be more connected and aware of the problem. The only thing that’s going to really move the dial on this is conflict-free policymaking that is ambitious and bold, and designed to serve citizens, nature, and climate – not the profits of multinational food corporations.”

So, can agriculture save our climate?

While the challenge is significant, the panel expressed optimism that agriculture can be a key part of the solution if the right systems and incentives are put in place.

The rapid scale-up of soil carbon initiatives across Australia is essential, but the industry also needs to consider natural capital in a broader sense.

Hugh Killen on the panel at evoke^AG. 2025

The panellists highlighted that progress requires courageous conversations, collaboration across sectors and a shift in policy and mindset—both within agriculture and the broader food system.

“I think agriculture is well placed to be the most essential service that we have,” Michelle said.

“We should feel deeply proud and grateful to the farmers that grow our food – fresh, heathy whole foods, the foods we actually need to eat – and do everything that we can as a community, as governments, and industry to support them to be successful running their businesses in a rapidly changing world.”