Carbon neutral wool growing in south eastern Australia

Whole farm systems analysis from the WFSAM project

Researchers gathered data from a wool case study farm in south eastern Australia to determine if the farm was carbon neutral. The property has a relatively low stocking rate of 8 ewes ha-1, and significant revegetation has occurred since the 1980s with 115 ha of the 250 ha property either planted with trees or revegetating.

The modelling showed that at this stocking rate, only 15% of the case study farm needed to be in tree cover for the farm to be carbon neutral. From 1980 to 2012 the farm sequestered on average seven times more CO₂-e / year in trees and soil than it produced from livestock and carbon dioxide emissions.

A comparable study on a wool farm with a high stocking rate is underway.

Primary researchers

• Natalie Doran-Browne, University of Melbourne

Publications

Doran-Browne NA, Ive J, Graham P, Eckard RJ (2016). Carbon-neutral wool farming in south-eastern Australia. Animal Production Science, 56, 417–422, http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/AN15541.

More information

• View all publications related to the whole farm systems analysis and modelling (WFSAM) project
• View the WFSAM project page.