LABOR has pledged to drive a move towards carbon neutral agriculture by supporting farmers exploring the change and driving sustainable farming as a commercial point of difference.
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Hunter MP and Shadow Minister for Agriculture Joel Fitzgibbon on Friday toured Keith Tulloch Wine, which is certified as carbon neutral by the Australian Government.
Alisdair Tulloch said there had been a "definite shift" in harvest dates in the 120 years his family had been producing wine in the Hunter.
"That moving forward and harvesting earlier means we are now harvesting some varieties about a month earlier than was previously done as recently as the 1980s and 90s," he said. "The effect that has on our wine production and the vintage compression of many varieties and grapes ripening at the same time adds a lot of costs."
Mr Tulloch said while while they were in early days of running carbon neutral, customers were receptive.
"I'd really compare in a way to free range chickens as compared to cage chickens," he said. "We're not telling people we are solving the climate change problem but we are offering people an ethical decision when they look to purchase wine."
Mr Fitzgibbon said a Labor government would invest $40 million to develop methods for carbon offsets and certification, giving properties another income stream.
"We need to take what is happening here a step further right across the agriculture sector by making it easier for those operating in the agriculture sector to secure offsets in the carbon market," Mr Fitzgibbon said.
"If we can do that that's an additional source of income and of course making their revenue stream more diverse and we have a number of proposals already on offer to do just that."
Farmers for Climate Action's Verity Morgan-Schmidt said it was great to see private enterprises like Tulloch's driving innovation.
"We know that farmers are on the frontline of climate change right across the country and we know that we also, as managers of 50 per cent of the land mass actually have huge potential to guide and lead on the kinds of solutions that we need to see," she said. "We need the right policy framework and the right investment setting but we also need farmers like Al and Keith to be engaged in this debate and to really take ownership to how agriculture is involved in the climate conversation."
