Lake Hāwea Station has been named as the first farm in New Zealand to have its carbon footprint certified by Toitū Envirocare.

The 6,500-hectare station on the eastern shores of Lake Hāwea is owned by Geoff and Justine Ross and Toitū has recently spent time on the station to independently verify and certify its position.

"The biggest koha Lake Hāwea Station can make to the world is to sequester more carbon than we emit,” Justine said.

The certification process undertaken is planned to be the first of many for New Zealand farms as the country moves to lower its overall carbon footprint and consumers world-wide demand carbon positive food and fibre.

Geoff Ross said the station was able to increase its stock numbers while also improving its carbon position. 

“The popular myth is the only way to reduce your carbon profile is by reducing stock numbers. This hasn't been the case here. Instead, we have increased stock numbers and wool production whilst increasing our tree plantings and retiring of marginal land.”

Almost 1,800 tonnes, or CO2-equivalent emissions from Lake Hāwea Station are due to methane from grass-eating sheep and beef and other contributing areas include greenhouse gas from animal urine, fertiliser use, supplements, and farm vehicles. However, on the other side of the carbon ledger, the farm locked up more than 3,966 tonnes of carbon through extensive tree planting and areas of regenerating bush.

The process of becoming certified was relatively simple, Geoff said. 

“Prompted by our son and seeing changes in consumer preferences offshore we started with some simple online calculators. We then had this process ‘ground truthed' by two scientists and then Toitū came in to check our numbers and view our operation,” he said.

“Much of the information needed to calculate a carbon footprint is available as part of systems farmers are already using, (Farm IQ and Overseer). So, it is more about gathering existing information and having Toitū run the calculations”.

PHOTO: Sothebys