Trailer for Good Fire Sequesters Carbon

Two passionate local carbon drawdown champions, fire ecologist Dr Andy Baker and Bundjalung cultural fire practitioner Oliver Costello, encourage us to befriend fire and use it as a regenerative force rather than allow it to be an uncontrolled destructive one.  They share their knowledge of the multiple benefits of reinstating cool mosaic burning in open forest ecosystems and while it may seem counterintuitive, good fire actually plays a crucial role in the global carbon cycle. The CO2 drawn down by a forests vigorous regrowth after a fire is equivalent to the smoke emissions created during the fire. The charcoal created by good fire, which is almost pure carbon, is additional and is then locked away long-term in our soils, rivers, wetlands and oceanic sinks. 

Watch and share this one minute, social media friendly version of the film and head to the website to watch the full version.

CO2 Drawdown Stories

Zero Emissions Byron’s ‘C02 Drawdown Stories’ is a quest to find and share Byron Shire’s most effective carbon sequestration projects and the dedicated, determined champions who are driving them. 

Episode 2: Good Fire Sequesters Carbon

Two passionate local carbon drawdown champions, fire ecologist Dr Andy Baker and Bundjalung cultural fire practitioner Oliver Costello, encourage us to befriend fire and use it as a regenerative force rather than allow it to be an uncontrolled destructive one.  They share their knowledge of the multiple benefits of reinstating cool mosaic burning in open forest ecosystems and while it may seem counterintuitive, good fire actually plays a crucial role in the global carbon cycle. The CO2 drawn down by a forests vigorous regrowth after a fire is equivalent to the smoke emissions created during the fire. The charcoal created by good fire, which is almost pure carbon, is additional and is then locked away long-term in our soils, rivers, wetlands and oceanic sinks. 

Watch and share the film below and if you are a resident of Broken Head or the Koonyum Range region ZEB and the landcare groups of Wilsons Creek, Huonbrook and Broken Head invite you to attend your local live Good Fire event to network with your neighbours and begin planning cool fire burns.  The tickets are free but numbers limited so please only book if you are a resident of the appropriate area and can definitely attend.  See details below and please advise via the Eventbrite contact function if you book but later discover you wont be able to attend so if there is a waiting list this can be managed to ensure maximum benefit from the events.

Thanks to the Byron Shire Council and their Agricultural Extension Officer,  Andrew Cameron for sharing this information.  We are happy to share it with our networks and encourage you to share to yours.

• The Livestock Flood Recovery Webinar advertised below was postponed.  Register to hear when it gets rescheduled.

 

• Rural Financial Counselling services - Click here for the Rural Financial Counselling Service (rfcsnr.org.au)

 

• Information on the Rural Landholder Grant (up to 25K) is now available at the RAA website link below. The RAA is encouraging landholders to apply for the grant and not self-assess. Applications close 30 September.

The Landholder Grant can be used for clean-up activities such as removal of debris as well as costs associated with maintenance of livestock health, and repairing and replacing fences. Grant guidelines are yet to be released but I will advise again once they are available. To be eligible it looks like you need to have holdings of at least 10ha of rural land; and receive at least $20,000 in income from primary production per annum.

If you require further information please contact Service NSW on 13 77 88 or visit their website for details. https://www.raa.nsw.gov.au/disaster-assistance/storm-and-flood-programs/RLG-feb-2022

Please get in touch if there are any pressing issues with your property or livestock.

Andrew Cameron | Agricultural Extension Officer | BYRON SHIRE COUNCIL

P: +61 2 6626 7223 | E: ancameron@byron.nsw.gov.au

This book is available widely from book sellers, but I highly recommend purchasing it as a member from Audible for $14.95.  Mathew narrates the book himself.

I have followed Mathew for many years as a food critic in the early 2000’s for the Sydney Morning Herald.  Then again, watching the 3 series SBS television show “Gourmet Farmer”.   Following his journey when he moved to Tasmania and became a Farmer at Fat Pig Farm.   It was enjoyable to follow Mathew developing the Farm, attending farmers markets, food festivals and helping raise funds for good causes at the local CWA Halls and becoming a family man.

 Mathew has written 9 books on food.

Farmers and gardeners who are interested in reducing emissions by using regenerative practices this most recent book “Soil” is a must read.  A wide and diverse array of subjects are covered, and I was amazed at the amount and quality of research that Matthew has done for this book. 

Rex Harris, Piccadilly Park, Bangalow

Macadamia Farmer, Change Maker & Guest ZEB Blog Writer

John Kempf is an entrepreneur, speaker, podcast host and teacher.  He is passionate about the potential of well managed agriculture ecosystems to reverse ecological degradation.

John believes regenerative agriculture management systems can:

• • regenerate producer profitability and create economic incentives for producers
  • produce crops that are inherently resistant to possible infections by insects, bacteria, fungi, nematodes and viruses, eliminating the need for pesticides.
  • produce food that can regenerate public health, with an elevated content of immune compounds that transfer plant immunity to livestock and people, providing food as medicine.
  • rapidly sequester carbon, build soil organic matter much faster than commonly expected, restore hydrological cycles, cool the climate, and reduce the water requirements of a crop.

Rex Harris, Piccadilly Park, Bangalow

Macadamia Farmer, Change Maker & Guest ZEB Blog Writer

Following purchase in 1998, months were spent clearing the rampant exotic weeds of Camphor Laurel, Privet, and Lantana  before proceeding to establish 16,500 Tree Macadamia Orchard and then planted approx. 60,000 rainforest and sedge species  along Riparian zones and gullies. 

The Orchard was managed under conventional practices until 2011 when it became obvious something was wrong. The orchard was showing signs of tree dieback and production was well below similar farms. 

About that same time, it was discovered that corn and potatoes had been grown on the property for many years during the  early 1980’s. Standard practices for growing those crops included heavy tillage practices on undulating land. The topsoil loss  during the normal rain events let alone “East Coast lows” would have been substantial. 

It was obvious that soil health needed to become the number one focus.  

In Nov 2011 Ray O’Grady became consultant agronomist and under his guidance a natural approach to nutrition began  particularly moving away from chemical fertilisers and using animal manures and compost. Aluminium toxicity was a major  problem and a program to balance all soil elements began. As time passed sourcing animal manure became difficult and it was  decided to make our own compost. Three full length rows of Macadamia trees were removed to make way for a compost  making pad. New compost making equipment was purchased and compost applications became a core practice for tree health instead of applications of chemical fertiliser. Following harvest each year 100 kg of compost is applied per tree. Sweet  smother-grass had been established throughout the orchard as a ground cover to help protect the precious topsoil that was  being re-formed. 

Gradually tree health and production improved but the 7-metre-wide rows of Macadamia trees began to canopy over the inter row space thus blocking sunlight to the orchard floor. This caused smother grass to rapidly disappear and provide little  protection to the precious topsoil that we had spent vast expense and time rebuilding.

In Aug 2017 an 8-year program commenced to remove 1,000 trees per annum. Tree removal was full row, every second row.  All the removed tree biomass was double ground and used as a component of our compost. Nothing was wasted. 

Full row tree removal left 14 metres between tree rows and large areas of uncovered and unprotected soil. Daniel had recently completed a Regen Ag course  and started hand sewing Sunflowers, Millet, Sorghum, Clovers, and other species to help stop the erosion. 

Hand seeding worked well but soon became impracticable. We purchased a small spreader to broadcast seed and later as we learnt and observed the benefits of the  cover crops (CC) a no-till seed drill and roller crimper were purchased to better plant and manage those crops

Transitioning from bare unprotected soil took approx.  2 months for the cover crops to provide soil protection and 9 months for grass & clovers to protect the area from the inter-row CC to the trunk line of the trees. This also started our journey into researching, learning, and implementing Regenerative Agricultural practices.  Plenty of mistakes were made but from those mistakes, other ideas and methods evolved.  

Learning by observation is important as is getting out with a spade. We discovered between 20 to 25 worms  per Sunflower root ball. The rough math was 110,00  Sunflower seeds per Ha = 2.5 million worms per ha working 24/7 and that’s just on Sunflower, let alone the  other 8 to 10 species in the planting mix. Deposits of  worm castings were abundant providing the perfect  natural package of highly active biological mixture of  bacteria, enzymes, rich in water-soluble plant nutrients, 50% more humus than topsoil – all provided  freely by nature. 

Vast amounts of Regenerative Ag information are  freely available on-line in audio, video, journals,  papers, and podcasts plus learning by doing. Once the tree removal program is complete half the Orchard area will be Macadamia Trees and the other half will grow diverse species of seasonal cover crops.  This will convert the Orchard from a monoculture to a polyculture plus the natural Rainforest plantings