Ms Marshall wants farmers to be “afraid enough to be informed” when it comes to carbon and biodiversity markets.
Twenty-six years ago, her first role in the industry was as a farmer’s wife. Today she is the newly-appointed Riverine Plains chair, a GrainGrowers national policy group member and one of only 20 recipients of a Farmers for Climate Action climate-smart scholarship.
“I have a background in science and education and I really love the ag industry; the camaraderie, the challenges, the opportunities, the learning,” Ms Marshall said, at home on her mixed farm with husband Craig, outside Mulwala in southern NSW.
Ms Marshall first heard about Farmers for Climate Action when she sat next to a woman at a soils conference in Canberra, who was a member of the 7000-strong group of farmers who are calling for strong economy-wide climate policies.
“After that initial conversation I subscribed to Farmers for Climate Action emails and that’s how I became aware of the climate-smart scholarship. It really goes to my interest,” Ms Marshall said.
The inaugural scholarship began in November and will cover a range of topics delivered by institutions such as the University of Melbourne and Australian National University during the five-month course.
Subjects include understanding and measuring carbon and biodiversity, mitigation of greenhouse emissions and understanding the government’s Emission Reduction Fund and Australian Carbon Credit Units.
“As chair of Riverine Plains my area of focus is looking at opportunities and de-risking farm businesses in the Riverine Plains,” Ms Marshall said.
“As farmers, we need to be more informed with what’s available and what’s involved with the carbon market and becoming carbon neutral.
“We need to be able to take advantage of biodiversity credits and to do that we really need to understand them.”
Knowledge is power and Ms Marshall is gathering both at a time when farmers are starting to realise that government climate policy may become one more burden in the barrow of burdens that can impact a farming business.
“We need to be really careful that government policy is not exposing farmers by taking on levels and limits that suit European and American soils,” she said.
“The targets being set need to be set for Australian farms and that means Australian soils. The more Australian farmers in the climate policy conversation the better.”
When Country News spoke to Ms Marshall she was still spinning from her recent learnings, reeling off industry jargon such as insetting carbon credits, mitigating nitrous oxide, the difference between labile and non-labile carbon and how the ERF was based on additionality.
For the layman out there, do not despair — Ms Marshall intends on becoming a point of contact for the industry in this space and bringing her new-found intel to the people through her role with Riverine Plains, GrainGrowers and as a climate-smart graduate.
Country News will catch up with Fiona Marshall again in the new year to learn how her scholarship program is progressing.
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