Pig Farming And Making Money From Carbon Credits

The Federal Government has approved the first technique which will allow farmers to earn money for reducing carbon pollution.

The Carbon Farming Initiative

Pig farming is the first industry approved to reduce methane emissions and trade carbon offsets.

The Carbon Farming Initiative passed Parliament a few months ago, and ABC Rural reports that the government hopes four methods to earn farmers carbon credits will be approved by the time it starts in December.

Farmers Will Be Paid For Reducing Methane Emissions From Manure

Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Change, Mark Dreyfus, says the first method allows pig farmers to be paid for reducing methane emissions from manure, which can be done by flaring it and preventing it entering the atmosphere. He says:

“Australia Pork Limited have advised me that a Carbon Farming Initiative project using this methodology would increase the return on each pig by $3.45..

The preliminary trials suggest that the payback period for the infrastructure that’s needed ranges from 18 months to five years in smaller operations.”

How It Will Work

The system requires:

• the manure being flushed into a pond covered with polyethylene
• the methane rises and is captured between the water and the cover
• the gas is collected and destroyed through flaring or piped to a hot-water boiler to warm piglets’ farrowing pens

The methane can also be turned into electrical energy by running a bio-gas generator, and that power could be used on-site or supplied to the grid.

Grantham (Qld) Trial

Grantham pig farmer Jeremy Whitby has trialled the technology for four years with financial support from the state and federal governments, as well as the coal seam gas industry.

It could cost a farmer from $75,000 – $200,000 to buy the infrastructure and they would be earning money within 18 months, or five years for smaller farms, the experts say.

Farmers will do this by generating offsets for carbon credits, which can be sold nationally and internationally.

Jeremy Whitby, who produces 14,000 pigs a year, is set to earn $50,000 pa by selling his credits at $20 per tonne. He should also save $20,000 pa on his heating bill. He says:

“It will make pork the most carbon-friendly or lowest-emission meat of any on the market..

The system would reduce the carbon generated by a kilo of pork in half.”

He expects to be flaring the gas and using it to heat his piggery within weeks.

Doing The Sums For Australian Piggeries

If all Australia’s 680 pig farms took up the technology, 705,000 tonnes of carbon emissions would be saved and farmers would earn $15 million selling credits.

Mark Dreyfus says pig farms emitted 3.8 million tonnes of methane a year and the initiative is a voluntary way for farmers to get involved in reducing emissions.

“This will put Australian farmers at the forefront of emission reduction practices and provide valuable opportunities for farmers to trade carbon offsets internationally.”

Further Methods To Reduce Emissions To Be Released Soon

Agriculture is exempt from the carbon tax legislation passed by federal parliament, instead, the sector falls under the carbon farming initiative legislation passed in August.

Methods to reduce emissions for savanna burning, landfill gas and waste diversion are expected to be released by December.

The picture becomes clearer