The CFI provides a mechanism to allow landowners to generate carbon credits, and ultimately income streams, by conducting projects that reduce emissions or sequester carbon in the environment.
Growcom’s Climate Programme coordinator, David Putland, said the CFI revolved around a set of ‘approved methodologies’ that determined exactly what farmers can do to generate credits and how many credits can be generated from these activities.
Putland said: “Methodologies relevant to horticulture, however, are yet to be developed and require more research. There certainly seem to be some opportunities for producers within the grazing and grains industries to develop projects that may both reduce emissions and potentially generate useful income. However, the suggestion that carbon sinks could be made by establishing large areas of carbon forestry in horticulture is highly impractical on commercial fruit and vegetable farms. Intensive industries like horticulture use relatively small areas of land and this issue was not considered fully during the development of the CFI legislation and regulations.
“Growcom will investigate what options are available that would be practical for horticultural enterprises to generate credits under the Carbon Farming Initiative.”
The investigation will:
Source: Growcom
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