Emissions Intensity 2026 Workshop Review
Jan Clawson, ASHEEP & BEEF
With the ‘Emissions Intensity: Getting Started on Farm’ Producer Demonstration site (PDS) project now in its final year, the core producers met for a workshop in March 2026. Facilitated by Richard Brake, this marked the fourth and final workshop.
The day began with an update on the remaining activities before the project’s completion in November 2026, when the final report will be submitted to Meat & Livestock Australia. These activities include promoting key learnings and completing surveys to measure how well the broader farming community has understood the information shared.
Richard provided an update on the ever-changing landscape of carbon emissions and new measurement methodologies. He highlighted the development of the Integrated Farm and Land Management Method, which allows multiple approaches - such as soil carbon and human-induced regeneration i.e. fencing native vegetation to regenerate - to be applied to the same area of land within an Australian Carbon Credit Unit (ACCU) project. Richard continued to urge producers to proceed carefully before signing up for carbon projects, noting the credits may be needed for their own businesses in the future.
Richard also reviewed the Australian Innovation Association (AIA) Environmental Accounting Platform (EAP) - an online carbon calculator engine based on the Primary Industries Climate Challenges Centre (PICCC) Greenhouse Accounting Framework (GAF) tools, including Sheep & Beef -GAF (SB-GAF) used in this project. With Professor Richard Eckard from Melbourne University on the AIA EAP steering committee the platform carries much credibility. However, Richard Brake reiterated his caution around data ownership, expressing concern about how de-identified datasets might be used in the future.
Brendon Savage from Tolga Farms, Kulin, joined us for the day. Together with his wife Gabrielle and son Nicholas, Brendon manages a 5,200-hectare mixed farming enterprise comprising roughly 60 per cent sheep with 40 per cent barley and oats. His focus on improving soil health through pastures, tillage radish and the use of sheep has helped to build a low-input, sustainable, and resilient business. Combined with a high-performing sheep flock, these practices have enabled the family to reduce carbon emissions and develop a Certified Sustainable Barley brand used by Rocky Ridge Brewery. Brendon shared valuable insight into his farming system and how these changes have helped to achieve his impressively low emission intensity results.
After lunch, seven of the participating farm businesses reviewed their carbon calculator results for the year and across the life of the project. Each core producer has completed a carbon calculator annually to track progress. The project has monitored average sheep and cattle breeder numbers, area and age of trees planted for sequestration and key emission metrics including enteric methane, net farm emissions and emission intensity for sheep, wool and beef.
At each annual workshop results have been reviewed collectively, with producers discussing strategies to reduce emissions and assessing their effectiveness and practicality in lowering both net farm emissions and emission intensity. Production efficiencies were again identified as the most valuable strategy - though harder to maintain while rebuilding flock or mob numbers after the dry years of 2023 and 2024.
During the workshop, participants agreed to continue using the carbon calculator after the project concludes. They recognise the value of tracking emissions changes each year and noted clear benefits, including:
Better lamb growth and quicker turn-off from improved pastures
Improved soil health through pasture rejuvenation
Less sheep feeding through summer with shorter turn off time
Increased productivity and profit through improved grazing management
While the aim of this Meat & Livestock Australia funded PDS project is to demonstrate the educational packages and services available to producers to improve emission intensity and the initial practice change steps required, the real success has been in bringing producers together to share ideas and drive productivity gains that also naturally lower emissions.
We finished the day with a presentation from Peter Irons, Murdoch University. Peter teaches a first-year Veterinary Science unit that includes a module on carbon accounting. Three of our core producers submitted their data for the students to analyse, giving them the opportunity to work with real farm information and understand day to day activities. As part of the exercise, students benchmarked each farm against others in Australia and globally, and identified potential opportunities for further emissions reductions. Some of the recommendations have already been implemented while others were less practical in our environment. The activity offered some interesting perspectives and gave students valuable insight into modern agriculture.
For more information on the project and its journey over the years, visit www.asheepbeef.org.au/emissions. You’ll also find there the Starting Your Emission Journey on Farm toolkit – an easy-to-read guide to understanding emissions, carbon accounting and completing a carbon calculator.
