CEFC backs cattle and sheep farmers with technologies to raise productivity and boost soil carbon

Progressive Australian software designed to increase farm efficiency and sustainability has secured a $5 million commitment from the CEFC, on behalf of the Australian Government, to capitalise on its prospective to drive down emissions from the agriculture sector.

AgriWebb is an Australian-based mostly agtech start off-up that has constructed a entire world primary livestock administration platform. It supports sustainable cattle and sheep grazing, automating details collection from all around the farm to help farmers deal with resources far more successfully and generate livestock at its perfect fat.

The CEFC Cleanse Electricity Innovation Fund financial investment will enable AgriWebb to build tools that track methane emissions from livestock and the carbon sequestration of paddocks.

CEFC CEO Ian Learmonth explained: “AgriWebb permits farmers to get benefit of the digitisation that has built existence less complicated throughout lots of other industries, minimising paperwork right after a lengthy day in the area.

“It collects data from gates, weigh stations, digital tag viewers and feed and h2o troughs, and captures in-industry decisions in real time. This information and facts offers farmers a more in-depth photo of the wellness of the herd and pastures, permitting them to allocate methods far more efficiently and to lessen carbon emissions.”

AgriWebb manages additional than 14 million head of livestock across 60 million acres close to the globe, together with Australia and the British isles. In Australia more than 15% of cattle and sheep stock are managed on the AgriWebb system.

In accordance to AgriWebb, shoppers utilizing the platform in Australia and the British isles claimed a 7.5 for every cent improvement in productiveness, as properly as healthier pastures. Farmers claimed the platform enhanced communications in between station managers and farmhands, helped stay clear of overgrazing, directed underweight animals to better feed paddocks, lowered diesel emissions, lowered herbicide and pesticide use and resulted in much less animal fatalities.

Executive Chairman and AgriWebb co-founder Justin Webb mentioned: “AgriWebb is already earning farming additional successful and we think it can also travel improved measurement and administration of emissions. The CEFC brings deep encounter in decarbonisation and sustainable agriculture and signing up for forces with the Innovation Fund crew will assistance AgriWebb increase its aim on sustainable farming.”

The CEFC investment decision aligns with the Technological innovation Investment decision Roadmap Minimal Emission Technology Assertion, which lists soil carbon as a precedence technologies. It is the 2nd Innovation Fund financial commitment in soil carbon know-how, pursuing the $1.7 million commitment to Soil Carbon Co. in 2020 to acquire microbial seed coating which can increase soil carbon.

The CEFC is also doing the job with Australia’s significant cropping sector to introduce the ground breaking FarmPrint technologies platform to enable producers reduce emissions whilst lifting productivity. FarmPrint is the item of the Energy, Emissions and Effectiveness Advisory Committee – 3EAC – a special collaboration combining the scientific expertise of the CSIRO with the operational practical experience of Macquarie Group’s MIRA, a single of Australia’s premier agricultural expense managers, and the specialist reduced carbon financial commitment concentration of the CEFC.

Mr Learmonth additional: “Technology is enjoying an progressively crucial position in innovative farm management. Details supplied by the AgriWebb platform will support farmers regulate their farm extra sustainably and change livestock involving paddocks to prevent overgrazing.

“The knowledge also delivers a electronic paper trail that will make it less difficult to concentrate on price-incorporating certifications these types of as carbon-neutral beef and to participate in carbon sequestration strategies.

“More economical farm manufacturing is a gain for farmers and the ecosystem. Escalating soil carbon levels can help decrease atmospheric carbon, giving one more pathway to decarbonise the agricultural sector.

“Agriculture accounts for about 12 for every cent of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions, and purple meat manufacturing contributes substantially by way of digestive gases and the reduction in soil carbon from overgrazing,” Mr Learmonth said.

The CEFC AgriWebb expenditure is part of a A$30 million money raising led by TELUS Ventures, the enterprise funds arm of Canadian telco TELUS.