Australia will 'regret' putting price on soil carbon

Professor Richard Eckard from Melbourne University said an increasing demand for carbon credits from the big end of town is reducing the amount of agricultural land because of things like mass tree planting.

"I'm concerned that a price on soil and tree carbon is actually resulting in fairly significant land use change ...which will come at the expense of the land sector," Prof Eckard said at a major agrifood tech conference in Perth.

"I regret that we put a price on soil and tree carbon because the greatest land use change we will see in Australia, post the initial settlement clearing, will be carbon-driven," he told the conference.

The carbon farming expert said carbon credits were not being used as they were designed - as a back-up mechanism for intractable emissions.

"The solution is research on actual ways to reduce emissions ... let's not monetise carbon credits as the way to buy our way out of trouble," Prof Eckard said.

"We're just buying our way out of trouble by generating all these land sector carbon credits, and not worrying about changing technology."

An online carbon calculation engine was also launched at the event to allow producers to get their carbon footprint across their entire farming operation.

The new accounting platform from Agricultural Innovation Australia works across all sectors.

"It is a world first ... it's never been done before where a single point of truth exists where you can send all your farm data," Prof Eckard said.

Agricultural Innovation Australia boss Sam Brown said the engine was designed to simplify greenhouse gas accounting for primary producers.

"Food and fibre production is increasingly becoming front and centre of national pledges to reduce greenhouse gas emissions," Mr Brown said.

"With many commodities exposed to export markets, the pressure to demonstrate environmental credentials is increasing."

The conference was also told that big supermarket chains have influenced governments to make it harder for other companies to enter their markets.

There's increasing pressure on Australia's two big supermarkets, Coles and Woolworths, over their pricing policies in the face of the cost of living crisis.

Professor Philip Howard from Michigan State University, who has studied competition policy in the United States, said Australian consumers could help drive prices down.

"It's got to be producers and consumers working together, which is hard because they are not always connected," Prof Howard said.

But he said technology had helped change that by connecting small producers directly with customers to get a higher share of the retail price.

More than a thousand delegates from 19 countries have descended on Perth for the two-day conference.

Australian Associated Press