A few weeks ago, a room of producers spent a day at Burindi Station working out where emissions fit into running a farm. The Ruminati team was there for Paraway Pastoral’s Getting Started Towards Net Zero field day, and what we heard gives a good picture of where producers are at right now.
There’s a version of the agricultural emissions conversation that assumes producers are reluctant participants, dragged into reporting by supply chain pressure or regulation. The field day was a useful correction to that assumption.
The event brought together a strong lineup of speakers: Harvey Gaynor from Paraway Pastoral, Warwick Badgery from the Department of Primary Industries, Ben Wark from Downforce Technologies, Margaret Jewell from MLA and Lachie Hart from Stockyard Beef. The conversation ranged across emissions reduction strategies, soil carbon, natural capital and what meaningful progress actually looks like on a working farm.
Those are big topics, and each comes with its own methods and its own terms. What came through most clearly across the day was that producers are curious and motivated, and the questions they asked all sat on the how side of emissions management. People wanted to know which methodology and tools suit their system, and where a sensible starting point is for their operation.
There’s plenty of appetite in the room, and the gap is practical, accessible guidance on where to begin.
Getting your number is the first step, and it’s the one everything else depends on. It covers what you’re producing and the inputs you’re using, and it shows where the emissions figure sits for your business right now. Think of it as business admin in the same family as your tax return or BAS.
Without that starting point, everything else is guesswork. You can’t manage what you don’t measure, and you can’t demonstrate progress on something you haven’t tracked. A number in hand this year gives you something to compare against next year, so when you change something on the farm you can see whether it’s moving the dial. Once your first number is done, it’s your line in the sand.
The order matters here. Which methodology and tools suit your system is easier to sort out once you know your number, because you know what you’re choosing them for.
Producers have every right to be wary of a number that turns into a new obligation down the track. Nothing here is mandatory yet, but the direction of travel is real, and there’s value in getting your number down now, on your own terms, rather than under pressure later.
Getting your number in place is the work, and it’s more achievable than most producers expect once they sit down and start.
For producers at a field day like this one, already motivated and already asking good questions, Ruminati is built to fill that gap. The platform gives them somewhere concrete to take that energy. If you’re working out where to begin on your own place, sing out.
