In honor of Earth Day, your mates at Aussie Beef & Lamb would like to take you to one of the most sustainable beef farms in Australia, if not the world. The place is Bimbadeen on picturesque Phillip Island (home of the fairy penguins) in Victoria, Australia. It’s here that visionary producer Bob Davie raises award-winning prime angus cattle 100% grass fed and finished and perhaps most surprisingly – carbon-neutral.
Turning beef production carbon-neutral may sound like a miracle, but it’s actually quite practical. By limiting or eliminating carbon emissions and implementing a host of small practices that put carbon into the soil, Bimbadeen started measuring carbon in 2009 and became carbon neutral in 2014. Recently they actually tipped the scales and become carbon positive – meaning more carbon was put into the soil than greenhouse gases emitted from their beef cattle farm. This allows them to now sell or trade carbon credits with businesses looking to offset their emissions. From managing and rotating cattle grazing to using dung beetles and dedicating part of the farm to a carbon-sink crop (daikon radishes are particularly effective), all the steps add up.
“It’s a no brainer, and something nearly every beef farmer can do. Just a small percentage improvement in carbon capture not only does right by the environment, it improves the soil, adds a stream of income for the farm, and helps preserve the land for future generations.” -Bob Davie
It’s the work of Bob Davie and others like him that led the entire Australian beef industry to commit to becoming carbon neutral by 2030. It won’t take miracles or as-yet-undeveloped technology. Just hard work and smart practices, with benefits all the way around; capped off with a tasty grassfed steak! Good onya Bob, and happy Earth Day to all.