Sustainability is part of the DNA of Yallamundi Farm. From the day we built the first solar-powered caravan
we’ve been working towards net zero and beyond.
2019
Sustainable by design
Our vision for Yallamundi Farm was to show what’s possible when you put the planet first. Before a single barn was built, or the first egg laid, we were focused on one goal: to deliver Australia’s first carbon neutral egg.
This was ambitious. To get the job done, we focused on two crucial puzzle pieces: emissions reduction and carbon sequestration.
Our strategy
Reduction is all about optimising the things we do on the farm for maximum efficiency. That means everything from reducing food miles by creating a local feed grower network, to feeding our hens an optimised diet without unnecessary additives.
Sequestration is where we do things like plant trees, diversify our crops and manage on-farm manure to return as much carbon to soil as we can.
2020
Our carbon footprint
In order to understand our carbon footprint – as well as find ways to reduce it – we needed to quantify it. We tasked Integrity Agriculture Australia to do this. They completed baseline audits of the farm for the 2020 and 2021 financial years. They’re independent experts and we wanted to be as authentic and transparent as we could. We even asked the auditors to include additional emissions not required by the current national governance because we like to do things the right way, not the easy way.
Plans in motion
As work continued on the farm, we installed 100 kilowatts of solar panels to power the cold room where we store the eggs as well as our small admin office. We had also begun building our first mobile caravans and these were each given 20 kilowatts of solar to run the climate control and monitoring systems.
These solar systems formed part of our reduction strategy. At the same time, our sequestration activities were in full swing too. We set aside 30% of the land at Yallamundi for biodiversity/wildlife corridors and we began to improve the way our Dorper sheep were rotated across the pasture with soil health and sequestration in mind.
2021
First big milestone
In May 2021 Yallamundi Farm was certified carbon neutral by Climate Active Australia.
This made our eggs the first carbon neutral egg in Australia. And we got there a year ahead of schedule.
But we weren’t quite ready to sit back and celebrate.
2022
Not done yet
We pushed ahead on our strategy with particular focus on things like manure utilisation. Seeking additional expertise, we brought on a team from the University of Queensland to help us develop a world class compost and soil management system.
2023
The road to carbon positivity
Carbon neutral status was a progress marker, not our final destination. We’re committed to making Yallamundi Farm eggs the first carbon positive protein on the market. That means we want our farm to sequester more carbon than it produces. We’re on track to get this done by 2027. To succeed, we will need to double down on our reduction and sequestration strategies.
In 2023, we commenced a detailed audit of the biodiversity we have on the farm. We studied the prevalence of different native bird, mammal and reptile species. We identified new areas on the farm where we could plant mixed native tree species. We even spotted a koala!
And we’re going to keep going. We’ll bring in the experts we need to make the farm as efficient as possible. We’ll plant thousands of native trees. We’ll identify new technologies that allow us to do more with less. And we’ll show the world that sustainable farming is the way forward.
We can’t wait to share the rest of our journey with you.