Welcome to the world of Carbon Farming.

Leading farmers and agronomists are searching for better ways to manage land for higher production and healthier profits, as well as a buffer against Climate Change. Soil Health is widely recognised as the key to these benefits, and Soil Carbon - that complex substance that is made when CO2 is drawn down from the atmosphere by plants and trees - is key to Soil Health.

Soil Carbon is simple and easy to grow. Just do good, old fashioned things for the soil, like feeding it and keeping it covered to stop erosion and encourage microbes. There is a a rapidly growing array of options for land management practices that encourage soil carbon. We call it Carbon Farming and after 5 years working with Carbon Farmers all around the world, we saw the need for a useful book about what we have discovered.

CARBON FARMING is NOT a silver bullet for all your problems. It IS a new way of thinking about land management. It focusses on SOIL CARBON as a single indicator of success. No sane person could disagree: if you are growing your soil carbon, you are doing the right things for your soil. Soil carbon is its own reward. You enjoy growing it, maintaining it, enjoying the benefits it brings, including healthier soil, better water usage, higher productivity and... potentially ... CARBON CREDITS. That's right. Farmers geting paid good money to farm in a way that improves their chance of surviving Climate Change. The Minister for Agriculture Tony Burke is on record as saying that if you sequester carbon in your soil 'you get cash'.

The Carbon Farming Handbook is the Beginner’s Best Friend. It is the ideal introduction to the subject. Easy to read and understand, it takes you through each stage a step at a time.
The Carbon Farming Handbook is about what works, not just theoretically, but really, on the ground on the farm.

For instance, the photo of the river that appears here is our property "Uamby:" in Central West New South Wales. The only difference between the two sides of the river is TIME. I mean by that the time that animals were allowed to graze on each piece of ground.One side saw the sheep for more than 200 days. The other side might see them 30 days in total. That is how you grow carbon in soil. The CARBON FARMING HANDBOOK tells you how. (This time management of grazing was taught to us by Allan Savory of Holistic Management fame. We are in his debt.) It is one of the many practices Carbon farmers can choose from. The CARBON FARMING HANDBOOK lists and explains them.

Carbon Farming 101
This HANDBOOK is full of facts. Here you will find answers to all the fundamental questions:
• What is Soil Carbon?
• Soil Organic Matter – why is it important?
• Soil Organic Carbon – how do you grow it?
• What is Carbon Farming?
• How is it different?
• Which are the Best Microbes for growing Carbon?
• How can you encourage them?
• Why Is Everyone talking About Soil Biology?
• How do you interpret your soil tests to find how many tonnes of carbon you have captured? 
• How do you Calculate Soil Carbon Credits?
• How do you sell your soil carbon?
• How much could you to get for it?

PURE GOLD! RICH, FRIABLE SOIL, MICROBIALLY-ACTIVE TOPSOIL. CARBON-RICH, HIGHLY-PRODUCTIVE, DROUGHT-RESISTANT SOIL.

Who can you believe?
There is a lot of debate and confusion soil carbon. The only experts on Carbon Farming and Soil Carbon Trading are the people who are doing it. When you read the Carbon Farming Handbook, you can be sure that you are getting facts from the people who practice Carbon Farming.

(Allan Savory is the mentor for Carbon Farmers everywhere. Here author Michael Kiely meets Allan and Jody Butterfield.)

A friend from the city brought her father along to our annual Carbon Farming Conference. He is a farmer about to retire after a long career in arid South Australia. He was tired and glad to see the end of it... until he heard the presenters at the Conference! "You know," he said to his daughter during the long drive back to the city, "I'll never look at the farm the same way again." He had his old spark back.

Carbon Farming is a different way of looking at your land. It gives you a different set of priorities. If you get it right, it can deliver everything you ever wanted to get out of farming. And more...

In the Handbook, there are more than 125 separate sections of Useful Information to help you decide (if you haven’t already decided), or to help you make the transition (if you have).

"You'll speak 'Carbon' like an Expert"

You can ‘learn the language’ with our 100+ “Carbon Vocab” section. This can mean dollars in your pocket. EG. A 'forest' is one thing in one country and another somewhere else. In some countries, a forest for Kyoto purposes is at least 1 hectare of land covered 30% by crown cover from trees growing up to 5 meters tall. But here in Australia, a forest for carbon credits is an area greater than 0.2 hectares, reaching 20% crown cover, reaching potentially 2 metres. It pays to speak good "Carbon"!

Online Calculators: add up your on-farm emissions

You can use any one of 13 online Carbon Calculators to calculate your Methane and Nitrous Oxide emissions. You simply enter you own data into the spaces shown, and it automatically calculates your emissions and your liability. There are calculators for every major commodity - beef, sheep, dairy, grains, trees, cotton, wine, and more... Notice they don't have one for soils.
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How many tonnes of Carbon are you capturing?

If you have the results of soil carbon tests, you can use the “Percentage to Tonnages” Model to work out how much soil carbon you have captured. It's easy.

An open door to the world online

There is also access to 45 official online resource sites; Links to 36 slide shows from Carbon Farming Conferences; 25 useful quotations; and 5 Soil Carbon Reward /Trading Systems profiled.

Why Should You Get This Handbook?
Carbon Farming is the land management system that is the most effective in responding to Climate Change. It can be used to build a buffer against higher temperatures and lower rainfall. It can cut input costs as it taps into the nutrient reserves and productive capacity hidden in the soil.
>Carbon Farming is the only way to increase soil carbon which is the engine room of growth in Agriculture. But which approach is best for you? Only you can say – and The Carbon Farming Handbook helps you decide.

The author of this Handbook (in the hat,  above) is a woolgrower from Central Western NSW who has been actively campaigning for soil carbon rights for farmers since it emerged as an issue. No corporation or government agency "pays the piper". His advice is independent.
Michael Kiely, Convenor of the Carbon Coalition and Soil Carbon authority, has also been a professional writer and editor for 35 years. He has earned a reputation for fairness and objectivity among the scientists and farmers he deals with.

Support the Carbon Coalition
The Carbon Coalition has been in the front ranks of the campaign in Australia and saw the birth of the “Movement” in New Zealand, America, India and South Africa. For three years the Convenors Michael & Louisa Kiely have funded the lobbying and outreach program of the Coalition. "They should be awarded the Nobel Prize,” according to Andre Leu, Chairman, Organic Federation of Australia."You single-handedly barnstormed the issue onto the national agenda,” says Matt Cawood, The Land Newspaper.

Thank You!
Part of the price of every book sold includes a donation to the Carbon Coalition to assist it to achieve its goal: “To see the day that soil carbon is traded and farmers paid (fairly) for what they grow.”

Order Your Copy Today!
You can order your copy today by PayPal.
Or you can send a cheque or money order to Carbon Farmers of Australia, C/- "Uamby", Uamby Road, Goolma NSW 2852
Or you can telephone (612) 6374 0329.