The sale of a historic Victorian high country cattle station to a carbon fund manager has raised concerns among residents and a federal MP about the property’s future.
Cobungra Station, which has been farming cattle for more than 170 years near Omeo, has been sold to specialist carbon fund and asset manager Silva Capital.
Silva Capital creates and manages Australian Carbon Credit Units projects as part of the federal government’s Carbon Credit Scheme.
Credits are generated through land reforestation and other agricultural projects that support the transition to net zero.
Carbon farming projects have become common in Australia, as companies look for quality carbon capture projects. (ABC News: Melanie Arnost, file photo)
The fund has confirmed plans to transform the station, running a carbon project alongside cattle farming.
“It’s been done in several locations across Victoria and throughout Australia,” Silva Capital co-managing director Raphael Wood said.
“What we’ve aimed to prove here is that food and fibre and carbon sequestration biodiversity can go hand in hand and create a more sustainable agricultural system,”
he said.
The transformation will see more native vegetation planted on the farm.
Raphael Wood says the fund will work with the local community to ensure all concerns around the Cobungra sale are addressed. (Supplied: Stephen Blake)
“We work with local experts, local community, the people who’ve worked that station before, to learn from them how to maximise the productivity and bring in new science and new techniques, for open woodland integrated with pasture to improve hopefully the productivity on site,” Mr Wood said.
What’s lost?
The deal has been approved by the Foreign Investment Review Board, and the sale of the farm is imminent.
However, some community members fear the project will result in a shift in Cobungra’s identity.
Dianne Carroll is a local historian from nearby Omeo.
She said Cobungra had special significance for the local area.
“Slowly we are seeing the demise of many farms and that history is an important part of our culture, and it should be retained,”
Ms Carroll said.
“I’m not arguing against the conservation or protection of our environment, but I’m questioning whether productive, historical, significant country is the appropriate place to permanently convert land for the generation of carbon credits,” she said.
The Coalition has called on the government to reject the proposal.
Cobungra lies in the electorate of the federal opposition agriculture spokesperson Darren Chester.
He said the decision to allow the proposal distorted the market for anyone who wished to buy land for traditional agricultural purposes.
“The individual or the farming organisation who might want to come along and continue to use the property for just mainstream agricultural production will be outbid by an organisation relying on government subsidies and schemes to fund their purchases,” Mr Chester said.
Darren Chester says selling farms for carbon projects sets a worrying precedent. (Supplied: Darren Chester)
Mr Chester drew on the recent example of the sale of Tasmania’s biggest farm, Rushy Lagoon, to a British investor, which was partially funded through the federal government’s Clean Energy Finance Corporation.
He said the cumulative impact of large farms being acquired under the government’s model deserved closer consideration.
“What is the long-term ambition for these carbon credit type sales? How many millions of hectares of productive agricultural land will we lose before it’s in the national interest?”
he said.
Mr Wood said the fund was looking forward to engaging with the local community about any concerns they had over the process.
“We intend to reach out to the community and start engaging and learning from the community about how we can maintain the agricultural productivity of Cobungra, and introduce them to what we are trying to achieve with Silva and Cobungra,” he said.
A chance to diversify
Not all agree that carbon farming and traditional agriculture are at odds.
Farmers for Climate Action chief executive Verity Morgan-Schmidt said carbon farming could coexist with traditional farming, and helped diversify farmers’ income.
Verity Morgan-Schmidt says carbon farming and more traditional farming can co-exist. (Supplied: Farmers for Climate Action)
“To me, that represents the opportunity that is actually increasingly coming down the pipeline for Australian producers to be able to diversify their income streams and actually, over the longer term, look to strengthen the resilience of their properties and regions as well,” she said.
“It’s really about a revenue diversification opportunity for farmers, provided we get their methodologies right and make sure that farmers are able to manage the access into that market as well.”
The Clean Energy Finance Corporation has confirmed it is not involved in the purchase of Cobungra.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the federal government said it reviews foreign investment matters “on a risk-based, case-by-case basis to ensure the investments are not contrary to the national interest or national security.”
“Due to protected information provisions under the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act 1975, the government cannot comment on the application of the foreign investment screening arrangements as they apply, or could apply, to particular cases,” the spokesperson said.
