While roaming the ram auctions our intrepid reporter surveyed farmers about net-zero ... specifically, the Federal Government’s plan to commit to a target of being net-zero by 2050.
Billy Garner, mixed enterprise:
We’re in a good position as sheep farmers. At least we don’t have cows! I’m not feed-lotting, I’m all pasture. I don’t really think much about it (net zero). I’d like to know how a carbon is made in the first place.
Bruce Loader, prime lamb:
All I hear is what the media talks and I’m sceptical of that because it can be biased and misrepresented. I’ll be keen to dig down into what it means for me but right now I don’t know anything about it.
Alister Safstrom, prime lamb:
I think as a sheep farmer I’ll be all right. I’m not a cow feedlot or anything. As a farmer on a main road you’re well aware people with a poor understanding of farming are judging you by what they see. I think people are judging farming to be less green than it really is right now too. Would they buy a brand new car and drive it into the ocean? No, it’s an asset. Well the livestock and the land are our assets too, and we’re not going to drive them into the ocean if we can help it.
Greg and Helen Dean, wool and lamb:
It’s got something to do with carbon. I don’t think a target will affect us much. We don’t have cattle, that’s a huge plus. We’ve got a lot of native growth on our property and the sheep are pasture fed.
Angus McMilliam, wool and lamb:
It’s got something to do with emissions. I think Australia is being put into a hole we don’t need to be in, but that’s politics. I think us on the land can do a hell of a lot more by not using nitrogenous fertilisers because it evaporates to the high heavens, but that’s just my opinion.