Alasdair MacLeod talks carbon boom at Rural Press Club

These were three of the more controversial elements of a discussion on carbon and cattle farming from a major agtech investor who also pours funds into philanthropic projects linking natural capital to farm productivity.

Alasdair MacLeod, executive chairman of private investment group Macdoch Australia, spoke at the Rural Press Club of Queensland's July lunch in Brisbane on Thursday, July 20.

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Macdoch's Wilmot Cattle Company, based near Armidale in NSW, made global headlines in 2021 when it was involved in the first significant sale of soil carbon credits via the voluntary market to Microsoft.

Mr MacLeod told producers to make sure they seek reliable advice before entering into any carbon insetting scheme.

Insetting, or removing emissions within supply chains, has been touted as the holy grail for beef brands wanting the carbon neutral label and indeed as critical to an industry marching towards CN30.

"What I'm concerned about is that there are schemes being discussed that will produce enough carbon credits to inset by measuring above-ground biomass through remote sensing, and thereby modelling the carbon sequestered on that farm," Mr MacLeod said.

"But those schemes will not fully measure carbon at depth and will likely disqualify the producer from subsequently entering a fully measured scheme that will provide a surplus of carbon that can be sold as offsets."

On the land clearing issue, Mr MacLeod said with better data it would be possible to demonstrate whether it was actually in the economic interest of the grazier to continue clearing land.

"We believe there is a sweet spot between a good ecological outcome and good business performance and you can't make the right decision around the extent to which you should be clearing until you understand where that sweet spot is," he said.

"I believe that it is in everybody's interest to cease most land clearing.

"The good news is that recent government reporting shows that land clearing in Australia is 75 per cent lower than it was 20 years ago, so we are heading in the right direction here."

Meanwhile, Mr MacLeod told the sold-out RPC audience that "every bank is now talking about good on-farm data to ensure they can populate their loan books with green lending."

"And they are talking about new financial instruments that will incentivise producers to develop their natural capital," he said.

"But there is not a huge amount of action yet. It's time for banks to stop talking and start delivering.

"If they're true to their word, this will be a big financial incentive for producers."

In a career than ran from the boardroom of Citibank to the newsroom of News Corporation, Mr MacLeod's transition into ag came from drought.

The wool growing NSW Southern Tablelands property that had been in his wife's family since the 1960s suffered immensely in the 2004 to 2006 drought.

"During those years, it became clear that all was not right on the farm. Why was there no grass? Why was there so much dead stock around? Why was the farm manager always stressed?" he said.

"It turned out, he was pushing the land too hard.

"Since then, we have nursed the property back to health and added considerably to the land under management.

"My interest now is understanding how agriculture can help to address the two great challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss, while continuing to grow nutritious food for a growing world population and provide a great income for Australia.

"It's my belief that Australia can lead the world in demonstrating how to do this."

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