Activity: Respond to the following questions
Consider how this topic might apply to your land management or farming practice.
Consider the following questions and make notes about ways to calculate GHG emissions and carbon storage that might suit your purpose.
The following points will help you have informed discussions with advisers.
- Working through the following activities, which calculators are most appropriate for you?
- Who might you speak to for further advice about calculating your GHG emissions?
Activity: MLA Quick Start Carbon Calculator
The purpose of this activity is not to yield results that can be actioned on a property but to introduce you to a calculator, the type of data required and how to use the MLA Quick Start Carbon Calculator to get a result. The MLA calculators are intended for livestock production enterprises (see section 7 for a summary of calculators). Note that the steps in the calculator may change over time, so check the current version before using it.
- Read the How to work through the calculator page, which explains the calculator’s methods and assumptions for livestock, vegetation and scope 2 and 3 emissions.
- Open the MLA Carbon in action webpage, which explains the MLA e-learning module that walks you through how to use the calculator.
- Complete the Introductory survey.
- Move on to Background, the key point being that the only data required is the total property area (in hectares), areas of pasture and trees and the number of livestock.
- Move on to the Calculator, where the user enters data about their property. Use the following example data if you don’t want to use the calculator for your property.
| Data | Value |
|---|---|
| Property area | 4,000ha |
| Location | South Australia |
| Zone | Mount Gambier |
| Beef cattle herd size | 0 head |
| Sheep flock size | 2,000 head |
| Area under pasture | 3,900ha |
| Dominant pasture species | Aust Phalaris, clover, annuals |
| Dominant soil type | Clay |
| Area under trees | 100ha |
| Dominant tree type | Mixed species |
Activity: Greenhouse Accounting Framework Tools
Again, the purpose of this activity is not to yield results that can be actioned on a farm but to introduce you to these calculators, the type of data required and how to use the calculator to get a result.
- Open the GAF for Australian Primary Industries Tools. Click on the version of the framework relevant to you, which will download the spreadsheet to your computer, which you must then open.
- Click on the data input tab and enter the data relevant to your farm profile.
- Click on the data summary tab and work through the top 2 or 3 GHG emissions items, which is where there may be the greatest potential to reduce GHG emissions. Are you surprised by their size or that they are the main items?
Activity: LOOC-C calculator
The purpose of this activity is not to yield results that can be actioned on a farm but to introduce you to the idea of a calculator, the type of data required and how to use the calculator to get a result.
- Open LOOC-C. Choose your area on the map using the Area tool and select all relevant options on this page.
- On the next page, explore the available methods, which will be addressed in greater detail in Topic 5. Select a method of interest and explore the results. Note that while these are ACCU Scheme methods, the practices within the methods can be used for carbon farming activities other than an ACCU scheme project.
- In particular, explore the Farm Co-benefits tab and discuss the findings.
- Click on the Save as PDF line at the foot of the Available methods page to summarise the results.