With an increasing focus on CARBON and as the Dairy Research Foundation’s theme this year is ‘A lot more than just Carbon’ senior research scientist, Dr Aaron Simmons hopes to provide a better understanding of the processes for dairy farmers and industry stakeholders.
“I think I will give the attendees some context surrounding where the drive to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is coming from and how this impacts them on the farm,” Dr Simmons said.
Dr Aaron Simmons is a senior research scientist with the NSW Department of Primary Industries, focusing on developing climate change mitigation strategies for agricultural systems. He leads a program that is developing pathways that aims to have NSW DPI agricultural research stations carbon neutral by 2030. His talk will focus on the risks associated with different emissions reductions strategies and the importance of an accurate greenhouse gas accounting framework.
“I’m going to share a bit about why we do what we do. There are different ways you can do a greenhouse gas account and industries are sticking to a consistent methodology. I am going to explain how that methodology has been derived and how it fits into an international framework,” Dr Simmons said.
Dr Simmons is well-regarded, when asked to comment on consultants who are trusted to provide advice in the carbon space, Prof. Richard Eckard from the University of Melbourne (also a speaker at the 2023 DRF Symposium) said, “You’ll want to consult someone independent like Aaron Simmons who understands the changing landscape in the industry and is aware of the bigger picture.”
“Knowing that there is an international framework that the Australian Dairy Industry needs to consider and understanding that there is a much bigger picture when discussing carbon are both vital,” Dr Simmons said.
When asked what challenges are facing the dairy industry, Dr Simmons replied, “The biggest issue is that emission reductions targets set by the post-farmgate supply chain will increase the need for emissions reductions on the farm to occur. That is going to be a challenge, dairy farms already incredibly productive, efficient systems so it will be difficult to reduce GHG emissions through efficiency gains. Cost effective strategies will be required to reduce enteric methane.”
“I hope to provide the attendees (of the DRF Symposium) with some tools they can consider to assess GHG emissions, and how the suitability of different emissions reduction strategies for their business. It will also be beneficial for farmers to come away from this event with a clearer understanding of what data collection is required for GHG accounts and how they might go about collecting this data,” Dr Simmons said.
Dr Aaron Simmons will be speaking at the Dairy Research Foundation Symposium on the 7th and 8th of November in Camden, NSW. Tickets are available here.
