Carbon policy and legislation was and still is an emerging and dynamic area that impacts on the whole community, including land managers in the Burnett Mary region. The ‘Carbon Farming Solutions: Restoring the Balance’ project, or the Carbon Farming Project, as it is known, is a joint initiative of Burnett Mary Regional Group, BCCA and Bundaberg Fruit & Vege Growers.

BCCA’s component of the project was to improve the understanding, by graziers in the Burnett Mary region, of greenhouse gas (GHG) production and abatement, carbon sequestration practices and the Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF).

As a result of this project, graziers in the Burnett Mary region had an opportunity to participate in the ERF and enhance productivity whilst managing GHG emissions and reducing their carbon footprint.

By the end of the project, 72 individual Property Management Plans had been prepared with graziers located throughout the catchment. This process included a review of current and planned, carbon farming strategies.

Participating landholders, Jim and Jenny Cross from ‘Sapling Springs’ at Wengenville, shared their experience in a case study ‘Property Management Planning – this is just what we have been looking for’, which is available to download and can also be found on the BCCA website in the case study section.

As part of this project, BCCA assisted in the coordination of a series of ten Carbon Farming workshops across the Burnett Mary with over 200 participants.