Tradable biodiversity certificate for farmers on the way

The bill introduced to parliament this week would allow farmers to use less-productive agricultural land to create a new income streams by setting up a legal framework for a voluntary agriculture biodiversity market, which would allow nature capital to be formally traded.

Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said the biodiversity certificate, issued by the Australian government, would be a new form of tradeable property.

"This certificate will be an asset in its own right, separate from the land, that can be purchases, transferred, claimed or used," Mr Littleproud said.

"This allows the landholders to sell the biodiversity on their land, while maintaining ownership of their property.

"It will allow farmers to decide what activities they're going to undertake and for how long. Farmers will be able to supply valuable biodiversity benefits without having to permanently lock up their land."

Australian farmers manage more than half of the nation's landscape. The National Farmers' Federation's 2030 roadmap includes a goal for 5 per cent of farmers income to come from ecosystem services payments by the end of the decade.

NFF president Fiona Simson said the bill represented a transformational change for Australian agriculture, providing a carrot rather than a stick to farmers to positively manage their farm environment.

"It gives farmers another string to their bow," Ms Simson said.

"Each season, farmers make choices about crop plantings and livestock numbers. The opportunity to trade their biodiversity values provides a further and longer term choice that they can draw upon when it suits their farm business."

Ms Simson said the bill must not limit the scope of activity to new biodiversity works or projects, but also recognise and value existing habitat that farmers have voluntarily and responsibly maintained.

The bill will also establish a single public register for the biodiversity market, which will track certificates, provide evidence for claims made by buyers and over time provide information to inform the market.

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