A Victorian sheep farming family's long-term revegetation plans have seen it reach Australian farming's contemporary Holy Grail - carbon neutral status.
The Stewart's environmental odyssey started with a whole-of-farm plan in the early 1990's that divided the property into five land classes, fenced out dams, remnant vegetation, waterlogged areas and salt-affected sites, before "tree belts" were planted around paddocks and along creeks, drainage lines and land class boundaries.
Back before carbon management was a thing, patriarch Andrew Stewart was more intent on sheltering the sheep, increasing natural habitat and attracting birds back to the 230-hectare sheep farm near Deans March, in the foothills of southern Victoria's Otway Ranges.
The times have changed, of course, and the federal government is now incentivising farmers to take up revegetation and agroforestry programs to reduce emissions and help the nation achieve its net-zero goals, as well as to shore up domestic timber supplies.
But the Stewarts' have quietly racked up numbers on the Yan Yan Gurt West farm that would move your average environment policy wonk to tears of joy.
Over the past 30 years the clan, Andrew and his wife and farm co-manager Jill, his daughters Michelle, Hannah and Kristry and the extended family, have planted more than 50,000 trees and shrubs to create about 23 kilometres interface of pastures to trees.
Historic land clearing had reduced the property's woody vegetation to just three percent, and as a result the farm suffered from ecological decline and water-logged areas. This has now been lifted to 18pc.
While also maintaining a successful prime lamb business and with no reduction in turn-off.
Kristy said the family's philosophy of building biological diversity and ecological functionality into the farming system - or having both conservation and profitability - was about "learning to work in harmony with our natural ecosystems."
"The farm is currently carbon neutral, we actually sequester a little bit more than we emit and that is based on the revegetation and agroforestry plantings that have been integrated into the system, and that is not even looking at soil carbon," she said.
The strategy is also starting to hit pay dirt as trees grow to a millable size and a native flower side hustle blooming courtesy of that long-ago decision to fence off dams and plant 28 species of banksias.
The family is holding a workshop this Friday that will discuss the journey to carbon neutrality and case study dam emission's. To attend, email Murray Johns at murray.scipn@gmail.com
The carbon neutral status was confirmed by a recent Agriculture Victoria impact study.
Despite the success stories, however, farmers remain generally reluctant to dip the toe into land stewardship programs, fearing a potential drain on production and the red and green tape that may come with it.
Agriculture Minister Murray Watt has just released $73 million under the new Support Plantation Establishment program to support private industry, including farmers, to "increase the future plantation forest resource and reduce emissions."
Ms Stewart said her family's "amazing story" was achieved without support and that government initiatives were welcomed as "that is the change that we really need to see if we are going to see more farms doing it."
"We need land stewardship payments in agriculture, the finance isn't there to support farmers to be doing this and it should be. But you also need to be careful how you set that up because too much regulation will restrict the creativity and ability of farmers to innovate," she said.
And although Ms Stewart is buoyed that conversations are increasing happening on the subject with government, she wants more emphasis on nature repair and ecology and ecosystems and less on "pay to pollute" schemes with a sequestration focus where big polluters simply abrogate their emissions by planting trees.
The trees and shrubs flower every month of the year on the Stewart's land and 123 bird species have been recorded, but the next challenge is maintaining carbon neutrality as trees age and slow down their carbon sequestration.
Meanwhile, Mr Stewart, a fourth-generation farmers was handed the Bob Hawke Landcare Award in 2021 for the agroforest project and for his work restoring the Yan Yan Gurk creek, forming a Landcare group in the early 90s and fencing off 18kms to revegetate the waterfront.
The following photos were taken in 1994, 1999 and 2020 of the creek area from the same photographic point on the Stewart's property, the post on the right is a reference point.
