MONEY can grow on trees if some landowners in Cobar are anything to go by.
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About 30 of them have launched into carbon farming and some marginal farms have been turned around with a new revenue stream.
That is an impressive outcome in an area that has been hard-hit by drought for years.
The source of the cash is the federal government’s Carbon Farming Initiative, which gives credits to farmers who cut their greenhouse gas emissions.
The government has budgeted $2.55 billion to pay for emissions cuts.
A farmer can get carbon credits by signing up to keep forest growth on the farm instead of clearing the land.
Conserving the trees creates cash – a big win when farmers have seen income drop each year.
The aim of the initiative is to help reduce factors contributing to climate change.
A company responsible for most western NSW forest projects says in three years farms have received $25 million and carbon dioxide emissions have been cut by 12 million tonnes.
The Regional Development Association (Orana) is making farmers aware of the carbon-farming opportunities and helps them through the “carbon auction”.
But, the whole scheme is uncertain since the Abbott government scrapped carbon pricing. Although funds are committed, the replacement has been struggling to get Senate support.
The initiative is a win-win scheme. It would be a blow to see it disappear because of climate-change ideology and politics.